Villa Schwalbe

1811 was Napoleon’s last year of peace before his Russian campaign and his defeat in the East. The disaster that befell the French army at the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig two years later was, at that time, almost unimaginable. Johann Samuel Schwalbe was born in March 1778 in Brand, near Freiberg. Like many young men of that era, he made his way as a travelling journeyman. In 1811, Johann Samuel Schwalbe arrived in Chemnitz. It was during these years that the city’s industrialisation began. At the Bernhard brothers’ cotton spinning mill in Harthau, Schwalbe gained professional experience that would prove invaluable to him later in life as a manufacturer. In the very year of his arrival, his application for citizenship was granted.

It wasn’t long before Schwalbe set up his own business. The machines manufactured in his workshop were still powered by a horse-driven capstan. Soon, however, the switch was made from horse power to steam power. Johann Samuel Schwalbe announced the switch to the steam engine to the public. Schwalbe’s factory was first located on what is now Theaterplatz (formerly Anger), then later on Friedrichstraße – where the Merkur Hotel’s car park stands today – and finally on Fabrikstraße at the foot of the Kaßberg. Johann Samuel Schwalbe died in 1845. His three sons continued to run the family business. However, as it turned out, with only moderate success. Initially, business was still going quite well. However, turnover plummeted as a result of market-related crises. The youngest son, Franz Louis, took over the business. Around 1850, a large-scale factory was established at the Fabrikstraße site at the foot of the Kaßberg. It produced spinning machines, large boilers, and brewing and malting equipment, and later also steam engines and water turbines.

“What is significant in this context is that the factory owner’s villa was built either in the middle of the site or on the edge of this large industrial complex. And it was typical of that era for manufacturers to live right at the heart of the action – that is, amidst the smoking chimneys and the noise. This only changed later, around 1900, when manufacturers began to seek out quieter, more upmarket residential areas and looked down on their factories from above.”

Thus, in 1853, between the banks of the Chemnitz and the slopes of the Kaßberg, a three-storey building with a basement, built in the late Classicist style, was erected: Villa Schwalbe. The building has a simple rectangular floor plan and features a winter balcony on the south side. The hipped roof was fitted with a discreet skylight at its ridge to let in natural light. The windows and door frames were adorned with porphyry quarried at Hilbersdorf at the time. In addition to the entrepreneur, senior staff and their families also lived in the villa. The house was passed down through the generations to the descendants of the Schwalbe family.

In 1873, the company was converted into a public limited company and was henceforth known as Maschinenfabrik Germania, formerly JS Schwalbe und Sohn. During quiet periods, the large boilers manufactured on site are stored in the warehouses at the neighbouring factory. They were sold in the mid-1880s to a brewery established specifically for this purpose. The company logo depicts a seated hermit monk. On the armrest of his chair sits a bird – a swallow – towards which the monk is reaching out his hand. Who hasn’t heard of this brewery? It has stood the test of time and continues to produce delicious beer to this day. Its name? Einsiedler Brauhaus.

In 1911, to mark the company’s 100th anniversary, Schwalbe was still in business, but a few years later the First World War caused the company to falter. During the recessions of the 1920s, the city purchased the site of the Germania engineering works, formerly JS Schwalbe & Sohn AG, and leased it back to the company. The air raids of 1945 completely destroyed the factory at Fabrikstraße 7. Villa Schwalbe was spared and now stood alone. From July 1946, the plant in Altchemnitz was transferred to state ownership and the company was henceforth known as VEB Germania. By the end of the 1950s, two main areas of production had emerged: plant engineering and equipment manufacturing. The plant engineering division was subsequently renamed VEB Anlagenbau Karl-Marx-Stadt. The equipment manufacturing division continued to be known as VEB Germania.

By 1940, the multi-storey car park had already ceased operations. During the Second World War, anti-aircraft guns were stationed on the roof to defend against Allied air raids. However, these did not prevent the buildings from being hit. The adjoining building, which was used as a hotel, burnt down completely, whilst the multi-storey car park escaped relatively unscathed. After the war, the district council’s trust department took over the property and had it refurbished. In 1953, a wholesale firm specialising in household goods moved in, and from then on the former multi-storey car park was used as a warehouse. One floor was reserved for the district council’s motor pool.

After German reunification, an open-plan office for 30 employees was created on one of the upper floors. Another open-plan office served as a retail shop for household goods and toys. The Chemnitz Industrial Museum also rented storage rooms from time to time, and a designer furniture shop occupied one floor. In 1994, the property was transferred back to its former owners, the Borchardt family, who were based in Berlin and Munich.

VEB Anlagenbau was able to carry out extensive projects both at home and abroad, for example in Schwedt, at the Leuna Works and also in the former Soviet Union. Both companies are still successful today. One now operates worldwide as CAC Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz, whilst a smaller firm has been producing under the name Harald-Liebers-Behälter-Apparatebau-GmbH at the old Schulstraße site since 1998. In the post-war period, Villa Schwalbe served as a residential property, but later stood empty. It was not until after German reunification that a private investor acquired the property and gradually renovated it. Modern flats and office spaces were created on the ground floor.