Villa Grüter
Renovation of a listed villa, Borken
A late neoclassical industrialist’s villa on Heidener Straße, completely renovated over two and a half years and restored in line with heritage protection requirements.
A listed building with a history
Villa Grüter on Heidener Straße is a listed building on the town of Borken’s heritage register. It was built towards the end of the 19th century (the exact year is not recorded, but it was probably around 1880) for a leading figure in the local business community who set up a textile factory here. The villa therefore stands for a piece of Borken’s textile history and for the town’s expansion east of the old town, where a district of detached villas grew up along the former Gemener Chaussee.
The two-storey masonry building with its shallow hipped roof is protected as a whole: the late neoclassical facade of yellowish-brown facing brick with render detailing, the entrance platform with its railing, added in 1925, the decorative tiles and floor mosaic in the hallway, the richly detailed stucco ceiling roses and the original wooden staircase with its elaborate newel post.
Accepting the building as it is
With a listed building, structural changes are only possible within narrow limits, and that is exactly where the challenge lay. In close consultation with the town of Borken’s local heritage authority and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), the regional heritage body for Westphalia, we renovated and restored the villa from the ground up over two and a half years. The aim was a home for three generations.
The photos taken before the renovation show how much effort went into the walls, ceilings and floors. Everything that defines the character of the house was preserved and refurbished. What modern living needs was added: in a restrained way, and so that it is clearly distinguishable from the original.
A house that shapes its occupants
A listed building tells stories: about the time it was built, about earlier occupants and about events in its surroundings. Some of its secrets are only revealed little by little. Listed status partly reverses the relationship: you do not just own the building; the building also places obligations on you. A renovation like this cannot succeed without love and passion for old houses.
