Previous names: The name “Weißes Rössl · Silberner Fisch” has been retained since the hotel opened.

Architecture: From the book “Country Houses & Villas by the Sea – Rügen & Hiddensee” (Barbara Finke and Beatrice Pippia): This house does not seem to fit in with the row of historic villas on Binz’s beach promenade. It is easy to walk past this simple building and on to the next villa with its picturesque turrets and beautifully decorated loggias. However, this villa is an architect-designed house that is worth a second look. The renowned Berlin architect Otto Spalding (1863-1945), Berlin’s chief postal engineer and also the builder of the Binz spa house, which opened in 1908, built his own country house on this site in 1906. From the outset, the villa, which was planned as a semi-detached house, bore the two names Weißes Rössl and Silberner Fisch. The design as a semi-detached house facilitated the versatile use of the building. Some rooms were intended for Spalding’s architectural office, others as living space for the family. In addition, it was to be rented out to bathers. … The Villa Weißes Rössl / Silberner Fisch was built in line with the modern concept of country house construction and dispenses with turrets, bay windows, loggias, and gable decorations. The main design elements are the arrangement of the windows and the shape of the roof, which is treated as a separate structure. The windows of the house are designed according to the function and lighting requirements of the rooms – one of the main features of modern architecture. The modernity of the building is particularly evident when compared to other buildings on the beach promenade in Binz that were built later, such as the Villa Sirene.

A very fitting description of the villa can also be found here:

“The house is located on the beach promenade, which stretches for about 9 km along the shore, a few meters above the water level. It features a construction method that was previously uncommon on the island. The core of the exterior and interior walls consists of brick-lined half-timbering; on the outside, the walls are clad with boards fastened to battens, creating a cavity. (…) This construction method has proven to be excellent against temperature fluctuations; in summer, the rooms remain cool even in the hottest weather, and in winter they are easy to heat. …

Amidst the beach houses typical of Rügen, with their elaborately decorated half-timbered facades and balcony extensions, Spalding’s semi-detached house is a purist exoticism of almost neo-real simplicity. Spalding designed the interior in the same unpretentious style …: As in Grenander’s Villa Tångvallen in Falsterbo, the simple, dignified and cozy English interior design finds its way here too …

From Moderne Bauformen: Monatshefte für Architektur und Raumkunst (Modern Building Forms: Monthly Journal for Architecture and Interior Design); Year: 5.1906 – Heidelberg University Library’s digital historical holdings (Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20726)

Year of construction: 1905/1906

History/owners until 1945: The Villa Weißes Rössl · Silberner Fisch was designed and built around 1906 by Otto Spalding as a semi-detached house. The book “Landhäuser & Villen am Meer – Rügen & Hiddensee” (Country Houses & Villas by the Sea – Rügen & Hiddensee) (Barbara Finke and Beatrice Pippia) says the following about him as a Berlin architect: Otto Spalding worked for many years as an associate in the office of his brother-in-law Alfred Grenander (1863-1931), who became internationally known for his designs for over seventy Berlin subway stations. The “Spalding & Grenander” office designed numerous summer houses. One of their most famous houses is the Lietzenburg (editor’s note: built in 1904) on Hiddensee, built for the Berlin timber merchant and painter Oskar Kruse. Spalding and Grenander were quick to embrace the new English and American influences in modern architecture and gradually moved away from the historicist style that was common at the time. Just two years before the construction of the country house (editor’s note: Weißes Rössl/Silberner Fisch), the “German Association for the Protection of the Homeland” was founded in Dresden, which can be seen as the first institutional response to the historicizing neo-styles.

Otto Spalding (1863-1945) was also significantly involved in the construction of the Binz spa house, which opened in 1908. The Spalding family offered their villa for sale in 1909 in the Binz auf Rügen guide with the following advertisement: Zum silbernen Fisch und Zum weissen Rössl’ Located on the beach promenade, we recommend self-contained apartments and entire villas with 5 and 10 rooms, equipped with every comfort. Electric light. Stoves. In the mid-1920s, the advertisement read: “Zum weißen Rößl” and “silberner Fisch” Single-family homes on the beach promenade near the spa house and the baths, with all conveniences, elegant furnishings, glass verandas, and stoves. Owner: Senior Building Officer Spalding, Berlin-Südende, Berlinerstraße 27 Südring 3142 (from “Praktische Winke – Ostseebad Binz auf Rügen” from 1925). Until 1953, the villa was family-owned and was also offered for stays by the sea.

GDR era: In 1953, as part of “Aktion Rose” (Operation Rose), the owner family was expropriated and the living space, especially for families, was made available as rental apartments. At that time, the apartments did not yet have bathrooms.

After 1990: After reunification, the descendants of the former owner family got the villa back in the 1990s. The house was in a desolate condition and was completely renovated in the mid-1990s under strict monument protection regulations. Otto Harnisch, grandson of Otto Spalding, was the architect in charge of the reconstruction of the house. The character of the villa was to remain largely unchanged. In particular, the old beams and the historic facade design were preserved. In addition, the vacation apartments had to be redesigned, including the kitchens, and “proper” bathrooms had to be installed. Since 1997, the six lovingly furnished apartments have been rented out as vacation apartments.

Current use: Privately run vacation apartments

Interesting facts/anecdotes: There is also an interesting story about Villa Drei Rosen (Strandpromenade 32a), which is located on the landward side behind “Weißes Rössl · Silberner Fisch” on the property, can be found in the book “Landhäuser & Villen am Meer – Rügen & Hiddensee” (Barbara Finke and Beatrice Pippia):

In 1913, Otto and Gunilla Spalding built a second country house at the rear of the property, which was intended as a summer home for the family. In fact, Villa Drei Rosen did not appear in any bathing brochures at the time, which means that it was not rented out. The design of the house, with its wood-clad gable and shutters, is in keeping with the modern country house style of the time, as was common in many places in Germany at the time. As with Villa Weißes Rössl/Silberner Fisch, the Spaldings’ first summer home, the change that took place in residential construction at the beginning of the 20th century is clearly visible here in the absence of historicizing ornamentation and the irregular arrangement of the windows. On the west gable of the house is an emblem with three roses, representing the Spaldings’ three older daughters. As the fourth daughter had not yet been born when the house was built, she was depicted as a rosebud on a branch. Both country house villas are still owned by the family and are rented out as vacation apartments.

Photos: Family collection, Binzer Bucht Tourismus collection

Text: Binzer Bucht Tourismus