Villa Urvasi

Villa Urvasi is a protected heritage monument located at Lahmannring 17 in Weisser Hirsch, featuring reform architecture from the early 1900s. The building contains multiple separate residential units with balconies and a vertical articulation typical of garden city design principles.

Max Herfurt built the villa in 1912 on the site of an earlier country house from the 1880s that was originally linked to the Lahmann Sanatorium. The sanatorium connection ended around 1940, after which the building gradually transformed into purely residential use.

The name comes from Hindu mythology, referring to a celestial nymph, showing how global influences shaped German residential design of that era. This choice reflects the cosmopolitan interests that inspired architects working in reform-minded circles.

You can view the building from the outside, and it sits in the quiet Lahmannring area that is easy to reach on foot. The interior is not open to the public since it remains a private residential building with limited access.

A major fire in June 2022 destroyed the roof structure and forced around 38 residents to evacuate from this protected building. Rebuilding the roof presented a challenge because the monument's historical qualities had to be preserved.