The Villa Noelle as a an old people’s residence called the „Parkschlößchen“ in 2020. Photo: Stefanie Waske
The villa of the factory owner Max Eugen Noelle (1861-1946) was built in 1897 on the Hoppenberg in Boffzen. In those days, the hill was still not built on and the position of the villa allowed a good view of the glassworks without being too close to the place of production. Max Eugen Noelle came from an entrepreneurial family, who owned a metalworking factory in Lüdenscheid, south-east from the Ruhr dictrict. The factory had been processing glass from the Boffzen factory since 1870, initially for their soda siphons for fizzy water. Glass inserts for Britannia ware made of hard-pewter alloys followed. In 1874 the Noelle Brothers joined the company in the Steinbreite because it was in financial difficulties.
How lived Max Eugen Nolle and his family? Have a look at the dining room, the living room and the winter garden in the 1920th. Photos: Private collection Dr. Stephan Brandt
The villa on the Hoppenberg in 1914 before being built on Photo: Archive of the community of Boffzen
The co-owners were in charge of the business in Boffzen and Hermann Wilhelm Noelle became the authorized manager (1874-1880). He lived in Höxter, got married and built the Noellenhof in 1895. His second cousin, Max Eugen Noelle, who had been working in the firm since 1887, became the managing director of the company upon the death of his business partner August von Campe. Max Eugen Noelle lived in this representative building until August 1930.
Max Eugen Noelle was a religious person and charity work was an integral part of his pragmatic protestantism. He paid in advance for the protestant rectory, became the legal guardian of several children of deceased glass workers and co-founded the worker’s consumer cooperative.
Family photo 1903: (from the left) Elisabeth Noelle (nee Schmalstieg), daughter Elisabeth (Lisa), Max Eugen Noelle, son Max Joachim, daughter Klara Photo: Private collection Dr. Stephan Brandt
As a result of the financial problems and the bankruptcy of the Noelle Brothers in Lüdenscheid, the villa became the property of the glass factory and was subsequently sold. Max Eugen Noelle died in Berlin in 1946.
The villa functioning as a convalescent home for young people after 1945 Photo: Archive Freundeskreis Glas
From 1935 onwards, the villa was used by the Reich’s employment agency as a camp, first for boys and then in 1936-37 for girls. They were introduced to farming and subjected to NS ideology. In 1938 the villa became a convalescent home for young people and after the Second World War, it was a children’s home. In 1986 the villa was sold and in 1996 became an old people’s residence called the „Parkschlößchen“.
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