Villa Schmederer, Heritage protected villa in Aigen, Salzburg, Austria.
Villa Schmederer is a heritage-protected mansion at Kreuzbergpromenade 4 in Parsch, Salzburg. Built 1887–89 in Neo-Renaissance style, it has a nearly square plan with a basement, two main floors and an attic under a hipped roof. The north side features a three-story facade tower; the second floor has a terrace with wrought-iron railing above a loggia. The garden includes a gardener's house, chapel and boundary walls.
In 1887 the Munich brewery owner Ludwig Schmederer bought the Upper Apothekerhof from the former court apothecary Dr. Alexander Petter. Between 1887 and 1889 he had a villa built next to it to plans by Josef Wessicken, executed by Valentin and Jakob Ceconi. Schmederer, an honorary citizen of Salzburg, spent almost 45 years here until his death in 1935; the estate then passed to his widow Minka and in 1978 to Hans Asamer.
Ludwig Schmederer, honorary citizen of Salzburg and president of the Salzburg Art Association from 1890, made the villa an artists' meeting place. His second wife, the singer Minka Schmederer (née Derra de Moroda), and her sister, dance teacher Friderica Derra de Moroda, later ran a ballet school in the house. The villa also served for years as a venue of the Salzburg Festival.
The villa stands at Kreuzbergpromenade 4 in Parsch, southeast of the old town, and is a private residence, so visitors see it from the street. The north front is the one to look at, with its three-storey facade tower and the terrace with wrought-iron grille above the loggia. The slope of the plot is levelled by a basement storey, so the building rises higher on the downhill side.
Luciano Pavarotti filmed the Christmas performances for the Europe-wide broadcast "Weihnacht mit Weltstars" at the villa during the hottest days of August 1983, performing with five puppets of the Arlequin Theater. The singer was male, not a female opera star.
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