Famous villa on Lake Starnberg for sale - "In the wake of land speculation"

The villa of the Maya the Bee inventor is to be sold.

The Ostuferschutzverband criticizes the foundation, which is to receive the memory of Waldemar Bonsel.

Münsing - "One of the most beautiful and well-known historic villas on Lake Starnberg, picturesque, poetic, representative, with wonderful views of the lake and the mountain range of the Alps.

Private lake shore and boathouse included”: With these words and numerous photos, the real estate agent “Immovision” advertises the Bonsels villa on Seeuferstrasse in Ambach on its website.

Rumors of a sale by the owner, the Waldemar Bonsels Foundation, have been circulating for a long time.

The Münsinger municipal council and the Ostuferschutzverband (OSV) have feared for several years that the Munich-based foundation could part with the property on Seeuferstrasse.

Now the time has come and the OSV sounds the alarm.

Famous villa on Lake Starnberg for sale - "In the wake of land speculation"

The foundation was established in 1977 by Waldemar Bonsel's widow Rose-Marie Bonsels (1909-1993) on the 25th anniversary of her husband's death - with the purpose of preserving the memory of the writer.

He lived from 1880 to 1952, spending many years in Ambach.

He became world famous through his work "Maya the Bee and Her Adventures".

Today, Bonsels is controversial because of its close ties to the Nazi regime and its anti-Jewish articles.

The villa in the heart of Ambach was built in 1886 as a summer house for the Hungarian painter Gyula Benczúr (1844-1920).

In 1919 Bonsels moved in and lived there until his death.

The writer's urn grave is at the back of the garden.

On a few days a year, visitors were able to see the original studio and final resting place of the inventor of Maya the Bee.

Waldemar Bonsels lived in Münsing - his villa on the lake is listed

For the municipality of Münsing, the historic building, which was extensively renovated by the foundation in 2014, and above all the magnificent "Hungary Gate" in front of it, are a tourist flagship.

Because of the importance of the monument ensemble between the Mother of God chapel, the Ambach steamer jetty and the traditional inn "Zum Fischmeister" by actor Josef Bierbichler, the municipal council does not want any changes to the property.

The foundation has applied three times so far that the - admittedly unsightly - extension in front of the villa from the 1960s be demolished and a replacement building may be built elsewhere.

It failed in 2018, 2019 and most recently in September 2021, partly because the smokehouse of a local fisherman is next door and the district office feared problems with immission control.

The Ostuferschutzverband (OSV) with the new chairman Johannes Umbreit writes in a press release that the property is now "unfortunately caught up in the maelstrom of land speculation and property exploitation".

The specially established Bonsels Foundation was supposed to preserve the writer's memory, and the income from renting out the living quarters above the studio was supposed to serve a good cause, which had worked well for decades.

Now, however, the board of trustees wants to get more out of the foundation's assets "following the spirit of the times and the interest in profit", suspect Umbreit and his board colleagues Petra Schulze, Manfred Stecher, Gustav Neumeister and Mechthild Felsch.

Münsing: Bonsels-Villa could cost ten million euros

The plot and the villa should be sold to the highest bidder.

A purchase price is not in the online advertisement.

The Bild newspaper wants to know that it is ten million euros.

In order to increase the sales value, the foundation is even fighting for a building permit for a second house on the property, although the garden is also listed as a monument and the general plan of the municipality of Münsing expressly does not provide for two-row development on the lake shore.

"We are curious to see whether the foundation supervisory authority will agree to this overthrow of the foundation structure and whether the municipality of Münsing will continue to follow its own framework plan," writes the OSV.

Mayor Michael Grasl explains that he sees "no reason to deviate from the framework plan and the special situation of monument protection".

He does not know whether the district office sees it the same way.

If necessary, the municipality still has the option of taking legal action.

The various building requests on the lake shore are "a major challenge for us, but we see ourselves up to it," says Grasl.

Foundation on the sale of the Bonsels villa: "Maintenance more expensive than the rental income"

Ralf Kirberg, CEO of the Waldemar Bonsels Foundation, contradicts the allegations of the Ostuferschutzverband (OSV).

"The foundation is parting with the property because the maintenance is much more expensive than the rental income," explains Kirberg.

The repair of hail damage in the recent past alone cost the foundation set up by Rose-Marie Bonsels in 1977 a lot of money.

This does not speculate, emphasizes Kirberg.

Its primary purpose is to encourage children to read.

The memory of Rose-Marie Bonsel's husband, the writer Waldemar Bonsels ("The Adventures of Maya the Bee"), who died in 1952, will continue to be preserved in Ambach.

A QR code is attached to the Hungarian gate in front of the property.

If you scan it with your smartphone, you can easily get all the information about the author's work and life - "ideal for the many walkers and cyclists who pass the monument," says Kirberg.

The few original items in the home's study—the desk where Bonsels worked and some of his books—would go to the foundation.

The proceeds from the sale will be added to the basic assets.

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