Villa Horion

In the location's words:

The "Villa Horion" was originally built in 1910/11 as the official residence of the governor of the Rhine Province.

From 1922 until his death in February 1933, this was Johannes Horion. In memory of this last democratically elected state governor, his official residence has been called "Villa Horion" since the 1940s.

After the war, the building served as a British officers' mess until 1956. In 1958, the cabinet under Minister President Franz Meyers (CDU) decided that Villa Horion would become the future official residence of North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister President with a state chancellery. A centerpiece of the redesigned official residence was the cabinet room with its round table and a teak relief with a map of North Rhine-Westphalia showing the (then) administrative division of the state.

After Franz Meyers, the social democratic prime ministers Heinz Kühn (1966 to 1978), Johannes Rau (1978 to 1998) and Wolfgang Clement (1998 to 2002) were hosts of the Villa Horion. Clement moved the headquarters of the state chancellery to the "Stadttor" office tower near the state parliament in 1999. In 2017, Minister President Armin Laschet announced plans to move the headquarters of the State Chancellery back to the Rhine - to the historic state house next to the Villa Horion.

The villa currently houses the petition department of the state parliament administration. In the fall of 2016, the House of Parliamentary History opened there, which brings 70 years of democracy in NRW to life with guided tours.

The historic cabinet room has been preserved unchanged. Sculptures of the two state premiers Karl Arnold and Johannes Rau stand in front of the villa.