Villa de Frankenstein

Frankenstein's Villa in a 1907 photo in Via Abruzzi

On the corner of Via Campania and Via Abruzzi, in the Ludovisi district, there was the Villino de Frankenstein until the 1960s, owned by the New York Trust Company, built in 1906 by Carlo Busiri Vici in collaboration with C.K.Fielding for Count Henri De Frankenstein.
The lot consisted of a long and narrow piece of land flanked longitudinally by the General Curia of the Capuchin Friars Minor and to the south by the Villino D'Aste between Via Abruzzi and Via Sardegna. The villa was set back from the road edge of Via Campania by a few meters, the front on the same street was occupied by a long gate while the entrance, located laterally just around the corner of Via Abruzzi, consisted of a large gate framed by two pillars.

The second project dated 1903 and then realized

Two projects for the villa were drawn up in 1903: the first envisaged a two-storey building with an entrance preceded by a portico with arches supported by columns and surmounted by a balcony, on the first floor windows framed by curved tympanums surmounted by a shell, on the roof the terrace was surmounted by a turret.
The second project, the one then built, was characterised by Busiri Vici's adherence to pure Renaissance forms. The main façade on Via Campania had five framed windows surmounted by the small windows of the mezzanine, the string course was flanked by a smaller one at the height of the window sills; the ground floor was characterised by being decorated with simple pilasters interspersed with the central door, the side windows and the service door on the left, above each of these there was a tondo with a bust. The rear side, facing the small garden and that of the adjacent villa, opened airily with three round arches on the ground floor surmounted by a loggia with a balustrade supported by Doric columns, the façade was flanked by a window on each side decorated with a volute bracket. Overall, the façade was a faithful copy of the Casina del Piacere in the Great Garden of the Farnese Villa in Caprarola, built by Jacopo del Duca in 1586. The roof was characterised by four slopes covered with Roman tiles. It is useless to mention the merciless seven-storey building, the result of the sordid speculation typically Roman that today mercilessly takes its place.

The Casina Del piacere in the garden of Villa Farnese in Caprarola

Regarding the history of the project and construction of the building, several pieces of information can be gleaned from the correspondence between the writer Henry Bennet Brewster, Clotilde Brewster (1874-1937), known as Clotilde Kate Fielding, and Christopher Brewster from 1905, correspondence of which we have knowledge thanks to the data kindly provided by Laura Fitzmaurice.
From the letters, it is clear that Clotilde Brewster, cousin of Countess Ann Seabury Brewster, wife of Henri de Frankenstein, played an important role in the construction of the Villino de Frankenstein, who in some letters clearly says "I have to build a house for the Frankensteins".

Project of the villa signed by Carlo Busiri Vici (courtesy of Laura Fitmaurice)

 

However, Brewster also says that she was unable to travel to Rome to follow the project. For this reason, the task was assigned, as written in the letters, to another architect, who signed the project. The name, in the correspondence, is never explicitly written, but we have reason to think that it was Carlo Busiri Vici, author of the villa that was then actually built. Brewster, however, as we always deduce from the correspondence, sent a project to the Frankensteins from London.

A photo of the newly built villa sent by Ann de Frankenstein to Carlo Busiri Vici (courtesy of Laura Fitzmaurice)