Villa Hämmerle, Protected villa in Dornbirn, Austria.
Villa Hämmerle is a castle-like factory owner's villa at the upper east end of Dr.-Waibel-Straße in Dornbirn, completed in 1892. Architect Julius Rhomberg and builder Josef Anton Albrich gave it a palas and a bergfried-like tower, referencing the feudal Middle Ages. It stands in a park within a villa quarter of buildings from the late 19th century.
Guntram Hämmerle, co-owner of the F.M. Hämmerle textile works, commissioned the villa in 1890 after his 1888 marriage to Natalie Winder. Architect Julius Rhomberg and builder Josef Anton Albrich completed it in 1892 on a plot belonging to his father-in-law, above the Wingathof his brother Otto had built in 1873. The design was changed into a castle-like building with a massive tower.
The villa was built for Guntram Hämmerle (1862–1923), youngest son of Franz Martin Hämmerle, founder of the F.M. Hämmerle textile works, who ran the firm with his brothers Otto, Viktor and Theodor. He commissioned it in 1890 after marrying Natalie Winder, daughter of a factory owner, on land belonging to her father.
The villa stands at the upper, eastern end of Dr.-Waibel-Straße in the Markt district, on the border with Oberdorf, directly above the Wingathof built by Otto Hämmerle in 1873. It sits within a villa quarter whose buildings all date from the late 19th century, so the approach on foot passes several of these houses.
The villa's design was changed during planning: the first draft followed neighbouring villas, but architect Julius Rhomberg and client Guntram Hämmerle turned it into a castle-like building with a Palas and a bergfried-style tower, a deliberate reference to the feudal Middle Ages.
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