In 1898, a Frankfurt banker named Julius Wertheimber acquired the Gustavsgarten and asked his architect, Franz von Hoven, to build a magnificent summer villa in the Neo-Renaissance style. The Wertheimber family were amongst Bad Homburg's prominent residents. During the rise of the Third Reich, the daughter of the Wertheimbers, Juliane Krahmer, was forced to sell the property for much less than its actual worth. She then emigrated to France and died near Paris in 1940. In the 1940s, the Frankfurt Naval Music School was briefly housed in the villa, and in 1947 a brain injury association set up a clinic there. After a restitution process lasting several years, the property was returned to the heirs of Juliane Krahmer, who sold it to the federal government. Over the years, the brain injury clinic was expanded with therapy and bed buildings and developed into a renowned neurological clinic. The clinic finally closed its doors in 2004. In April 2011, the City of Bad Homburg acquired the property. Today, the villa houses the municipal archives, which preserve the "memory of the city" in an annexe. Documents, files, books, maps, plans, photos, postcards, records, films and much more are available for viewing in the archives' reading room during opening hours. Lectures, guided tours and rummage days complete the archives' offer range. On the upper floor of the villa, one finds the "Hölderlin flat", where writers and researchers may stay free of charge at the invitation of the City of Bad Homburg.
