we’ve all been there. Two people go through the same experience, but each remembers it differently afterwards. One morning, two years ago, gisbert poplar He was standing in a German villa where he had to do some small work repair When he felt that there was nothing interesting or noteworthy in the house. At that initial meeting, he mustered up the courage to tell the client that the interior was not unique or remarkable. “I recommended tearing down the house and starting over,” says the architect and interior designer, “even though it could have easily meant an early end to the project.” Entrepreneur Katja Putter-Ammar, who had just purchased the villa, has a very different memory of that morning. “I had confidence in Gisbert Poppler from the beginning and he was the right person for the job.” When she finally shared her plans with him, she thought: “Wow, that’s bold, and my husband said: ‘Oh my God, I hope it goes well. But go for it.'” And Poplar’s What was it about the plan that won her over so quickly? “I love color and this house was an impulse buy and I knew it was the one.” There was a good atmosphere.
The villa had been completely renovated once before, in the 1980s, although its historic status kept the façade untouched. However, nothing original was left inside and everything was new. Even the park-sized garden was destroyed when Poplar started the project. The original house had its own charm, and as part of the Hohenhagen Garden City it was also of historical interest. Nearby is Hohenhof, a villa designed in 1908 by Belgian architect Henri van de Velde. A leading exponent of Art Nouveau, Van de Velde built the house for the art patron Carl Ernst Osthaus, whose collection would form the core of the Museum Folkwang in Essen after Osthaus’s early death.
