Villa Leuchtenberg, Villa on Lake Constance in Lindau, Germany.
Villa Leuchtenberg is a waterfront building on Lake Constance in Lindau with a main structure rising three and a half stories, flanked by two two-story side wings with small towers at the corners. Major renovations between 2005 and 2008 brought the historic structure fully up to modern standards.
In 1853 Theodelinde de Beauharnais, Princess of Leuchtenberg and daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais, bought the Haugsche Gut, a customs house with outbuildings on the old Bregenz road. She sought the mild Lake Constance climate for a lung ailment. Munich architect Anton Harrer rebuilt the customs house from 1853 to 1855 in the Maximilian style as a summer villa; outbuildings were demolished for a garden with private harbour. In 1886 it passed to the Kennelbach textile manufacturer Samuel Wilhelm Schindler.
Inside, the rooms feature wall paintings in Pompeian style, while outside the building blends classical, neo-Gothic, and oriental elements from the Maximilian era. This mixture of different architectural influences shapes how the villa looks today.
Today the building is divided into residential and office spaces and sits on a waterfront property within Lindau's pedestrian zones. The best way to see the villa is on a walk along the lakeshore.
The electricity came from Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler's power station in Bregenz-Rieden, across the Austrian border, carried to the villa by an overhead line. His brother Cosmus had bought the estate in 1886 and installed central heating; the same period gave the villa its historic facade paintings and winter garden.
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