Only a few buildings in Munich’s historic old town survived the air raids of 1944/45. One of them is Gruber’s Stadtpalais, built in 1856 on the former Wallstraße in the immediate vicinity of Maximilianstraße.The old, second city wall of Munich’s inner city still ran along this site in the Middle Ages, the remains of which in the palace’s garden tell of that time. When the ramparts of the city fortifications that were later built here were finally ground down under King Ludwig I and, together with Maximiliansstraße and the new gardens of the Ring, were redesigned into a prestigious quarter, the Biedermeier palace with its tranquil garden also came into being in the midst of the turbulent city.
In 2018, the European Heritage Project was able to acquire this gem from Caritas after the death of the owner and comprehensively renovate it. Today, the European Heritage Project uses it as a German branch and as a representative exhibition space for its own art collections.
PURCHASE SITUATION
The building was owned by an elderly lady who used the rooms herself until her death. Due to her advanced age, however, necessary maintenance measures had not been carried out to the necessary extent for decades. When the lady died in 2017, she bequeathed the property to the German branch of Caritas. For them, however, the building was unsuitable for use, as the floor areas were too small and the investment backlog and the necessary investment requirements were too high. When the European Heritage Project learned of the intention to sell, several investors, mainly international ones, had already expressed their interest. However, they intended to divide the property into condominiums and sell it to foreign private individuals as a “pied-à-terre”. This would have destroyed the original idea of use. In intensive talks, the European Heritage Project succeeded in dissuading Caritas from the idea of breaking up the property in order to preserve the palace as a unit. In 2018, the property was finally acquired.
HISTORY
After Louis the Austere moved his residence to Munich in 1255, a second city fortification wall became necessary, which for the first time included parts of the later Maximilianstrasse. However, the area of Stollbergstrasse was still outside the city area at that time. Even the Zwinger wall built in the 15th century did not reach there. It was not until the ramparts were built in the 17th century that the area of today’s Stollbergstraße was also covered. When Munich’s fortress status was revoked at the end of the 18th century, the ramparts began to be dismantled. In their place, among other things, Wallstraße, later Stollbergstraße, was developed. In the course of the redesign of Munich’s city centre by King Ludwig I, not only was the new Maximiliansstrasse built in the Italian “Maximilian” style, but the former ramparts were also rededicated. Especially in the immediate vicinity of Maximilianstrasse, numerous representative city villas were built for the upper middle classes. For example, in 1855 Julius Gruber, the partner of the renowned Palmersche Hofbuchhandlung , commissioned the construction of a stately new city palace in Wallstraße from Friedrich Bürklein, who was probably the most respected architect in Munich at the time. Bürklein, a pupil of Friedrich von Gärtner and a royal building councillor since 1852, was not only the mastermind behind the new Maximilianstraße, but also the designer of the Munich railway station building and the Maximilianeum. His design of the building was based on a square ground plan. Gruber’s Stadtpalais was finally completed in 1858. It initially consisted of a three-storey main building with a city garden with a small tea house at the rear. In the following years, there were numerous extensions. In 1890, for example, the lower storey on the garden side was raised. On the street side, three rooms were added to the main house. At the end of the 19th century, the bay windows and staircase windows were fitted with stained glass.
ARCHITEKCTURE
The façade of the building is reminiscent of the Munich Biedermeier style. The strict division into four storeys, each with five windows, is emphasised by a central bay window with fluted column elements that extend from the 1st to the third storey. A central pointed tower with a gilded wind vane completes the façade towards the top. Attached to the front as decorative ornaments are four “Maximilian roses”, as they adorn the large buildings on nearby Maximilianstraße. The ensemble is surmounted by the tower of the staircase, which is placed on the side and breaks the strict symmetry. The historic stained glass windows in the bay windows have been largely preserved. The entrance area of the property reflects the representative character of the building. Ornamental cement tiles adorn the floors, stucco the ceilings. Particularly striking is the spiral staircase that connects the ground floor with the 4th floor. The transparent design of the domed roof seems particularly successful here, allowing the light to enter unhindered and thus giving the staircase an unexpected lightness. In the rooms on the ground floor and the first floor, it was possible to preserve most of the historical fixtures, while they had already been mostly removed on the higher floors. The small park behind the house is a special jewel in Munich’s city centre. Facing south-east, it concentrates the light, especially until the afternoon, and offers every visitor peace and relaxation in the otherwise hectic city centre. The small tea house with its lovely Biedermeier paintings has been preserved in its entirety and reflects the reception of originally aristocratic garden culture into bourgeois life.
STRUCTURAL CONDITION AT TIME OF ACQUISITION & RESTAURATION
The property was occupied by the owner, an elderly lady, herself until 2017. Due to the lady’s advanced age, necessary maintenance measures had been omitted for a longer period of time. This required extensive renovation. In the course of the work, the entire roof was renewed, the electrical installations were replaced and the sanitary facilities were brought into a contemporary condition. The parquet floors, some of which are still original, were professionally restored, and the doors and windows, where still original, were refurbished. The entire heating system was replaced by a low-energy heating system. The flats were also equipped with underfloor heating. The façade was repaired and upgraded in accordance with the requirements of the preservation order.
PRESENT USE
The historic living spaces on the ground floor and first floor are being used again as living spaces. The floors above are home to part of the European Heritage Project’s art collections, especially modern and contemporary artworks. The exhibition rooms also serve as a dependence of the European Heritage Project in Germany, where political discussions as well as cultural events take place on a regular basis.
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