Industry, Origins, and Technical Milestones

When the first construction workers began building the directors’ villas for the Rasselstein plant on the White Mountain in 1910, the ironworks at Rasselstein already had a 150-year entrepreneurial history. The iron and hammer mill on the Wied, which Heinrich Wilhelm Remy had leased from the Count of Wied in 1760, had developed over that time into the industrial engine of the Neuwied Basin and, with 1,400 employees, became the largest employer in the region.

Rasselstein had already been a source of important technical innovations: in 1769, the first German steel sheets were rolled there; in 1824, the first puddling steel plant went into operation; in 1835, rails for the first railway line from Nuremberg to Fürth were rolled there; and in 1883, Germany’s first small Bessemer converter was tapped at the site.

Economic Upswing and Regional Development

The Rasselstein Ironworks Company had continuously established metalworking plants in the Neuwied Basin, bringing modest prosperity to a region that had previously been predominantly agricultural. Rasselstein itself had experienced many highs and lows up to that point. Only after the founding of the “Tinplate Sales Office” in 1862 in Cologne and the introduction of import tariffs during the Bismarck era did production and sales increase rapidly. The Tinplate Sales Office was a sales cartel of six tinplate manufacturers, created to eliminate competition among themselves and shut out foreign—mostly English—competitors.

The simultaneous dramatic drop in tinplate prices was, for the innovative Rasselstein company, merely a challenge to pursue determined modernization and thus secure the enterprise. Additionally, Rasselstein experienced another upswing in the years before World War I due to the elimination of English competition. When Segendorf and Niederbieber were merged into a single political municipality in 1911, a period of active construction began. The Remy family, always particularly aware of their responsibility toward Rasselstein employees, built a settlement of company housing for the Rasselstein Ironworks at that time. Around the same period, construction began on the three directors’ villas on the White Mountain.

The Directors’ Villas and Their Architecture

The villas were designed by architect Mr. Herrmann, a follower of the Cologne School, whose members aimed to promote better building culture while consciously drawing on traditional local architectural styles. The use of regional materials (basalt) and the enjoyment of traditional craftsmanship characterize the then-popular Heimatstil (homeland style), as does the reference to regional, mostly Baroque, models. Buildings in the Heimatstil deliberately emphasize traditional construction while aiming to appear simple and functional.

The villa on the White Mountain represents a rare regional example of grand architecture at the beginning of the 20th century and impressively demonstrates the intellectual and artistic creativity, as well as the craftsmanship and technical skill, of the time. In particular, the Art Nouveau-inspired interior design—stucco ceilings, high wall paneling, open staircase, copper ceiling and wall lamps, doors, and the marble fireplace mantel—reflects the high standards of the builder.

Residents, Memories, and Personal Stories

It is now difficult to determine exactly who lived in the villas. Until the end of World War II, all three villas were still privately owned. At that time, the property at Weißer Berg 3 was occupied by the Remy family, and the property at Hans Böckler Straße 26 by Otto Wolff, who had been directing the Rasselstein operations since 1916.

The current villa was occupied until 1951 by Clara Magdalena Peucer, a Remy successor from the Krumfuß family, together with her aunt Auguste Amalie Elisabeth Krumfuß and the housekeeper, Miss Heinemann. Neighbors recall that Miss Peucer loved music and was an excellent pianist. Whenever one passed by the property, they could hear her playing, even when she could barely see and could no longer read sheet music.

Miss Krumfuß was said to be very frugal, sometimes excessively so to her own detriment. The elderly lady reportedly climbed the stairs in the dark to save light, fell, and broke her leg. On Kastanienallee, Miss Krumfuß kept sheep, which she tethered on the meadow, while the courtyard and garden were inhabited by free-roaming chickens. “As children, we sometimes collected not only chestnuts but also eggs—before Miss Krumfuß made her rounds with her little basket. But of course, she wasn’t supposed to know,” recalls a lifelong resident of Weißer Berg.

War Years, Occupation, and Transition

During the war, the villa was converted into an air-raid shelter for the citizens of Niederbieber and was frequently used. The house survived the war with only minor damage. Although Rasselstein was bombed, only a few panes of glass were broken. All three villas were used to house families displaced by bombing.

Toward the end of the war, American soldiers quartered in the villa for a few weeks—the officers inside, the enlisted men in tents outside. They were followed, after the establishment of occupation zones, by French troops, who set up their command post here and only vacated it in 1948. In 1951, the house became property of the Workers’ Welfare Organization (AWO).

Some say that Miss Peucer could no longer maintain the house in her old age and transferred it to the AWO for a small sum due to her social commitment. Another story claims that Miss Peucer was expropriated, and the villa thus passed to the AWO. One fact remains: Miss Peucer spent the rest of her life living in the gatehouse and received a small pension from the Workers’ Welfare Organization.