Potsdam's most expensive Property - New Owner gives Insight into the Siemens Villa
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TaraDeS — 5 months ago(October 19, 2025 01:06 PM)
Potsdam's most expensive Property - New Owner gives Insight into the Siemens Villa
The Siemens Villa in northern Potsdam [
borders Berlin to the southwest
] remained closed for a long time.
Last month, entrepreneur Stefan Peter auctioned the property for EUR 13.75 million to create a center
for meditation and research. Now the millionaire opened the doors.
Stefan Peter (62) was the only bidder for the villa with an appraiser's estimated value of EUR 27.5 million.
The path to Potsdam's most expensive villa begins at a gate with a gatehouse. It curves up through a park and ends in a circular path in front of a large, stately home. The property, which entrepreneur Stefan Peter
won
at a foreclosure auction at the Potsdam District Court, measures approximately 100,000 square meters.
He wants to create a retreat and learning space in the Siemens Villa – also known as Heinenhof – for people interested in the connection between spirituality and science, a kind of meditation center.
Plaza in front of the main entrance.
The new owner plans to invest a further EUR 25-35 million in renovation and conversion. That's urgently needed. As impressive as the building once was, the backlog of renovations is now evident. Numerous scaffoldings, containers filled with rubble, abandoned paint buckets and the occasional crumpled cigarette pack left behind by a craftsman testify to the impending decay.
For around 20 years, the property on Lake Lehnitz belonged to real estate entrepreneur Anno August Jagdfeld. He bought the villa in 2000 to live there himself – but never moved in.
The Siemens Villa was built from 1909 to 1910 for Carl Friedrich von Siemens, son of the Siemens founder.
Stefan Peter was already offered the house five years ago through a real estate agent for EUR 35 million.
"That was too expensive for me,"
he says. A month ago, while showing friends around Potsdam, he spontaneously decided to go to the foreclosure auction. He made the only bid – and won the auction, even though the market value was EUR 27.5 million, twice as high.
Despite the damage, the Heinenhof hasn't lost its imposing presence. Oak trees line the path to the entrance.
A side entrance leads through the courtyard into the 6,250 square meter building.
The somewhat dilapidated side entrance.
Inside, long hallways and rooms in the English country house style. Those expecting splendor will be disappointed. Many walls are raw, some without plaster. Loose cables hang from the ceiling. Daylight penetrates sparsely through latticed windows. Signs remind us of the monument protection.
Historic House and Modern Visions: Meditation and Research
The heart of the house is the former library with an adjoining dining room. Light-coloured fixtures and decorative wood carvings characterize the space. The floor of the long dining room is covered with dusty parquet. The walls are paneled, and the coffered ceiling is artfully decorated. Large stone-framed fireplaces evoke past festivities. Here was the 1930 World Energy Conference, hosted by Carl Friedrich von Siemens in his home. as the new owner enthusiastically recounts:
"He invited around 400 guests from politics, business and science to discuss new forms of energy."
Stefan Peter's blue eyes now shine.
"Albert Einstein introduced atomic energy here. My concept is: ancient wisdom meets the latest science."
The dining room.
This idea fascinates him.
"In every nucleus of atoms, including within humans, there's this infinite energy, so to speak. You can express it physically, mathematically or theologically."
Something that needs to be explored.
"The vision of my foundation is to cultivate a consciousness to develop potential, individually and collectively, to create authentic connection with myself, with others, with the Earth, with the cosmos,"
says Stefan Peter.
The listed stucco ceiling in the dining room was a gift from the British royal family.
Stefan Peter wants to transform the villa into a place for energy, awareness and research. Courses on activating inner energies through breathing and meditation are planned. Science, art and music will also take place here. Piano concerts with star pianists are expected to have a transcendental impact.
With his Inline Foundation and former employees of Meta and Google, he also wants to develop an app that will introduce meditation to millions of people by 2028.
Stefan Peter explains his vision for the house: to create a place of energy, awareness and research.
Parts of the house will be open to the public, others by invitation only.
"It depends on the type of event. Of course, there must be open houses where people can gather information. But there are specialist topics where you have to be specifically invited."
The upper floors house bedrooms and bathrooms, including a former luxury bathroom that he plans to restore. Expensive fixtures from the Deutsche Werkstätten (German Workshops) testify to unfinished plans. Another staircase leads to the spacious attic, which he pla