From Ohm`schen Villa to hotel The history of the Ohm´schen VillaThe central focus of the hotel complex is an art nouveau villa built in 1870. The surrounding grounds with their fabulous and now valuable trees were designed between 1908 and 1913. In true art nouveau style the façade was faced with white and coloured tiles and the roof adorned with coloured roof tiles. This ceramic facade which originally covered the entire building is an art nouveau feature unique throughout the whole of Germany.
The villa was built by the chemist and councillor of commerce Dr. Felix Ohm and was the perfect way to showcase the weather-proof ceramic colours and glazes that were produced in his Meißen based factory Bidtelia. His "porcelain-villa" or "Ohmschen Villa" as it became known, proved an effective adevrtising vehicle for this new type of architectural ceramics. Dr. Ohm’s aim was to bring a little colour into the grey monotony of urban life and in its day the "Ohmsche Villa" was considered an important tourist attraction I the city of Meißen.
Post 1945 the "Ohmsche Villa" was successively a Soviet comander’s office, a police station and the administration headquarters of the fireproof industry. The reconstructions undertaken to facilitate all of these caused some damage to the building.
It was not until the building was converted to a hotel that the villa was restored to its full glory giving the hotel which openend on 1st December 1993 a very particular flair. The Ohm´schen Villa through time1898-1899
Conversion of the original building from1865/1875 into an art nouveau villa
(Constructor: Dr. Felix Ohm) 1907
Extensions to the villa and the construction of the annex 1908-1913
Design of the grounds along the banks of the river Elbe. Construction of the boundary and the inclusion of the art nouveau wrought iron gate from May 1945
Comander’s office of the Soviet occupying power from November 1946
Police station 1958-1978
Sitz der Industriezweigverwaltung der Feuerfestindustrie
Administrative headquarters of the Association of Publicly Owned Enterprises for the Fireproof Industry (Vereinigung Volkseigner Betrieb Feuerfest) 1979-1988
Headquarters of a Meißen based company operating in the fireproof sector 1988
Work begins to convert the building into a guest house for the GDR ministery or ore mining, metallurgy and potash 1991-1993
Guest house is converted into a hotel 01.12.1993
The hotel opens as the Parkhotel Pannonia Meißen 01.01.2001
Change of management and renaming to the Mercure Grand Hotel Meißen 01.08.2007
Change of management and renaming to the Welcome Parkhotel Meissen
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