Truman-Villa, Architectural monument in Babelsberg, Germany.
Truman-Villa in Babelsberg is a two-storey stuccoed villa with red sandstone window surrounds and cornices, built 1891–92 by Karl von Großheim and Heinrich Joseph Kayser. Its street facade has a projecting bay over the entrance and a three-arched portico; the garden side shows two side projections with shaped gables and a recessed loggia. The roof is hipped and covered in glazed tiles, and a modern office building by Diethelm Hoffmann was added in 2000.
The building was designed by two prominent Berlin architects in the late 1800s and built as a summer home for a wealthy publisher. In July 1945 it became the residence of an American leader during a world conference nearby.
The name "Truman-Villa" dates from 1945, when Harry S. Truman stayed here for 17 days during the Potsdam Conference; the white facade earned it the nickname "Little White House". The building was earlier called Haus Erlenkamp and Villa Müller-Grote, after publisher Carl Müller-Grote, who used it as a summer residence and hosted guests such as Edwin Redslob.
The villa stands at Karl-Marx-Straße 2 in Babelsberg, its garden front facing away from the street; the 2000 office wing by Diethelm Hoffmann adjoins the old building. Since April 2001 it has been the headquarters of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, so the interior is not open to visitors and the address is best viewed from the public pavement.
While staying here in summer 1945, the American president made key decisions to end the war in Asia. The villa was later purchased by a political foundation and thoroughly renovated to preserve its historical form.
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