Hi Max,Max wrote:Thanks Annelie.Annelie wrote:Max, the previous home stood that way I believe.
I guess the south view at that site would have been very uninteresting - looking straight into the rise and not much sun.
My point was, why not a site with a fabulous view AND better use of the winter sun ?
I think that the low winter sun is behind the hill for most of the day , thus the Berghof would have be in its shadow.
Perhaps there are other peculiarities of the topography that make the site more attractive.
Someone who knows the site might have comments on how the building interacted with sun - especially in winter.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 0#p1881400
suggests that AH had a particular interest in the view of the Untersberg, but it all sounds a bit fanciful to me.
Yes, that's true. Hitler chose Haus Wachenfeld because it was available (or, perhaps it would be better to say that he convinced the owner to make it available), but he particularly wanted that location because of the view of the Untersberg and his native Austria to the north. The story is explained in my book, but Hitler stated that his affinity to the Untersberg legends and the view of Austria were his basic reasons for settling there.
The north facing Berghof did have the same problems as any north facing mountain house - front not lit by the sun, so dark most of the day, same with cold. Herbert Döhring and Christa Schroeder both said in their memoirs that the Berghof was always cold ... but, of course, this situation kept it cool on hot summer days as well.
Geoff
