Haus Schwalbenklippe

Haus Schwalbenklippe stands in the Lesum area of Bremen's Burglesum district. The two-storey plastered villa has hipped roofs, loggias, balconies and a veranda. You spot the round corner tower first: it dominates everything else. The garden architect Christian Roselius laid out the grounds with a view over the Lesum. Bremen has protected the house as a monument since 1994.

The story begins in 1841, when a dyke broke and its builders bought land here to dig sand for the repair. The work left a cliff-like wall of sand, and sand martins nested in it. In 1858 the retired admiral Karl Rudolf Brommy bought an earlier villa on this ground. His widow Caroline Gross sold it in 1871 to Carl Lahusen, the founder of the Nordwolle. The merchant Julius Kulenkampff acquired the property in 1883, and his brother Johann Gustav took it over in 1902. In 1903 the old house came down, and in 1905 the land passed to their sister Emmy Johanne Kulenkampff. Friedrich Wellermann and Paul Frölich built the present villa for her in the Reform style. The master builder Heinrich Ahlers supplied the plans for a renovation in 1931.

After 1945 the lawyer Dr. Kuhlmann owned the place. The house still serves as a private residence. Its guestbook carries the names of the pianist Henriette Bromberger, the Mayor of London and Federal Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.