Anyone who has navigated Hamburg by car may be familiar with the quirks of the Sierichstraße, a two-lane road that runs between the city center and northern suburbs, near the city’s huge hub of water-based fun that is Outer Alster Lake.
Sierichstraße is known as Hamburg’s most famous one-way street—except it’s not actually one way. When planners in the early ’60s needed to find a way to accommodate increasingly heavy traffic, rather than chopping down the mature oak trees that line the road and widening it, they adopted an American solution instead. In the morning, the traffic flows in one direction; in the afternoon, it runs in the other. It is, as you can imagine, a source of endless confusion to newcomers to the city.
The street may be notorious. But less widely known is the story of the man after whom it’s named. In 1850, Adolph Sierich, a luxuriantly bearded 19th-century merchant, inherited a farm in Winterhude—a village just outside the city limits—and set about developing it as a desirable district by building homes and making its canal navigable to attract industry.
By the end of the century, Winterhude had officially become integrated into the city. And life there today for its affluent residents revolves around the water or the 120-hectare green lung that is Stadtpark—more than a third of which was once Sierich’s private forest.
As the crowning glory, Sierich built his own home in Winterhude too. The 1,232-square-meter mansion—built in 1890, the start of the Wilhelmian era under Kaiser Wilhelm II—is one of just 15 properties that sit directly on the waterfront of the perfectly circular and aptly named Rondeel pond. The location needs no introduction to anyone who has taken a sunset SUP (that’s stand up paddling for the uninitiated) tour of Hamburg. Approaching on water is also the only way the public can access this most upmarket of ponds.
The villa is one of only about five that is a detached, single-family home. The rest have either been divided into apartments or are in small terraces. So this house is “a rare jewel,” says Josia Witzel of Doerfert Immobilien, the listing agent for the property, on the market at €32 million.
That makes it the most expensive property currently for sale in Hamburg. “What clients really want is freestanding. And this is the best lakefront location in Hamburg,” Witzel comments. “Buyers in the villa market are often looking for a specific combination of features, including a south- or west-facing garden to make the most of the sun, and a parking place—this home has separate, drivable entrances in and out—and so few properties have that.”
It’s also highly unusual for houses on the Rondeel to come on the market at all. “They are passed down from generation to generation,” says Witzel, who persuaded the owner of this villa—a man who made his fortune from the original dot.com boom—to list it on the open market. “Most vendors at this level go off-market. But this is a unique house and we convinced him that houses like this have to be shown,” says Witzel, adding that Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor, is among those who have taken a peek inside.
Before you marvel at the interiors, though, there’s the location to get to grips with. “It’s high privacy, but you can get to the inner city within three minutes by boat,” says Witzel, pointing out that the Rondeel merges into a canal that leads to the inner-city Alster Lake.
The amphibious lifestyle is a hit with Hamburg’s upper-earning echelons, who are either those bored with sitting in traffic jams or eco-entrepreneurs who like to showcase their green credentials by navigating the city by bike or boat. Since Covid, wealthy buyers the world over have been seeking that rural-living-in-a-city combination. Throw in some prime waterfront, too, and the words “trophy property” start to get bandied around.
Hamburg, however, remains under the radar for global UHNWIs. Despite its history stretching back to medieval times, the city’s cultural heritage (the glassy, waterfront Elbphilharmonie concert hall is a triumphant modern tribute to that) and its heavyweight heft in the worlds of finance, industry and media, Germany’s second biggest city doesn’t compete with Berlin or Frankfurt in the consciousness of buyers from outside of Europe, in Witzel’s opinion.
But now is Hamburg’s moment to shine, he adds. “Pre-Covid, there were lots of buyers from overseas, then transactions fell heavily. This is a great opportunity for international buyers. The two ponds that this guy Adolph developed are now the top two places to be,” adds Witzel, referring to Rondeel and Feenteich (Fairy Pond), where there are just two villas with direct water access—one a private villa, the other owned by the City of Hamburg to house visiting dignitaries, including Donald Trump, during his last presidential term.
If there’s a property to whet buyers’ appetites, this is surely it. “It’s overwhelming,” says Witzel of the emotion at stepping into an entrance hall whose richly warm wood-paneled walls and ceiling feature ornate original marquetry—with paintings integrated into the woodwork—from the 1890s. Look up and you’ll see the decorative Art Nouveau glass cupola that radiates light throughout the three floors.
In contrast comes the soothing whiteness and Art Nouveau elegance of the adjoining reception room whose French doors lead into the Winter Garden—a sumptuous sanctuary, with its billowing floor-to-ceiling curtains and crystal chandelier, that opens up on to the garden “like a private park,” says Witzel. Where the lawn meets the water is a wooden deck, plus two electric boats included in the sale. Hamburg’s height of waterfront living is truly on tap here.
The villa’s historic grandeur and art may be worthy of a museum—offer the right price, by the way, and the owner may be inclined to leave the artworks, Witzel suggests—but this is a home designed for family life too. After that grandiose entrance hall, you may not expect to find a pink disco room in the basement—but, you know, dotcom millionaires’ kids are like any others.
Now that they’ve flown the nest, though, and with the owner rarely in Hamburg for long these days and downsizing to an apartment with a concierge, this is a gilded opportunity for the next generation seeking the opulence of a standalone villa on Hamburg’s premier pond. It’s ready-made, too, for those who prefer to avoid the idiosyncrasies of the road named in honor of its original owner and paddle their way into town instead.
Doerfert Immobilien is a member of Forbes Global Properties, an invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
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