Villa von Diringshofen

Villa von Diringshofen stands in Neu Fahrland, a district of Potsdam beside the Lehnitzsee. Its three storeys combine reform architecture with neobaroque and neoclassical influences. Ludwig Otte designed the residence between 1912 and 1913 for Generalleutnant Max von Diringshofen and Margarete.

The interior included a music room and ballroom, reflecting the grand domestic life planned for its first owners. Economic hardship after the First World War forced the family to surrender the property. Prince Friedrich Sigismund of Prussia acquired it in 1927, and his widow and children lived there until the Second World War ended.

The Red Army converted the villa into a hospital in 1945, before Soviet authorities transferred it to the United States two years later. It then housed a military liaison mission known as Potsdam House. Political demonstrations gathered outside during the Suez Crisis and the Vietnam War. After German reunification, Prince Sigismund’s descendants regained the property and sold it in 2003. The building remains a private residence and a listed heritage site in Brandenburg.