Villa Gelria (Groningen)

 estate (manor / mansion land), villa

 Upload a photo

The villa at the west side of the Verlengde Hereweg in the Helpman city district was build in 1872 as an estate of the rich industrial W.A. Scholten (1819-1892). The building was designed by Scholten's "home architect" J. Maris (1826-1899), who also designed the former Scholtenshuis at the Grote Markt and the Scholtenskoepel in Groningen. The villa was designed in an eclectic style with Palladium-influences. The building is situated with a parc like environment, which originally was much larger and included the former hospital area. The villa was named after the provincie of Gelderland (in Latin Gelria), in which Scholten was born. During the Second World War the building was used as a local headquarters for the German SS. After the war the building was used as an educational building of the nearby hospital (Diakonessenhuis), as an office for the police and as a location of the Social Academy. In 1981 the building was bought by the building company Koop, who used it as main office building. At the moment it is an office of the Koop Holding company. Since 1995 the villa is a state monument.