The initial situation:

The Villa von der Heydt, in Berlin’s Tiergarten district, is a representative, free-standing building from the villa architecture of the 19th century. Today the official residence of the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, this villa has been a listed building since 1966.

The customer’s wish:

New, stylish lighting was to be realised for the main entrance to the Villa von der Heydt. To this end, the existing listed historical lighting columns and luminaires were to be refurbished and converted to the latest LED technology in accordance with the specifications of the Federal Monuments Authority and the executing planner adb – büro für architektur, denkmalpflege und bauforschung, ewerien und obermann GbR. It was important to the clients that the new lighting was modelled on the look and aesthetics of old gas luminaires.

Our solution:

As part of the refurbishment of the building’s exterior façade, the two existing lighting columns and the associated luminaires were first professionally dismantled. In cooperation with the company Metallrestaurierung und Kunstschmiede (metal restoration and art smithy) of the recognised and certified restorer Mr Georg Ignaszewski, all luminaire parts were restored and repaired with great care and attention to detail. The historic Berlin city lights of the Victoria type were given to us for further processing. The technical conversion was carried out with our His.lux Premium-LED-Modulen, in the unique LED GasLight version and with authentic distribution chamber. Visually, this creates the impression of original historical gas lighting. The light colour of 2,700 K corresponds to the gas light of the Berlin gas lanterns. The reflector was hand-pressed by us in the traditional way. The patinated imitation burner tube made of brass is used for centred, invisible cable routing within the luminaire. The luminaires were also fitted with special glazing. For the perfect appearance, a specially manufactured hand-blown window glass with slight air inclusions was installed, which emphasises the brilliance of the lighting with a “vividly moving glass surface”. The visual appearance of the lights therefore corresponds exactly to the gas-powered original.
With this lighting solution, we offer state-of-the-art LED technology in a historical guise.