From the outside our house still seems to be the old villa it used to be, but the inside is as different as special to us. There are three floors and 24 rooms in total. One for every housemate. The common rooms are especially importance to us: The kitchen – which is of course big enough for everyone to prepare their meal – as well as the dining room next to the kitchen form kind of a centre of everyone’s life since its function as a social meeting place in the house. Moreover we have our own library, which is filled with books, and cannot only be used for studying but also for many other activities. Connected to the library, you can find our TV room. Outside the house there is our small garden, which is great for barbecues during summer time.

While talking about this house, it is important to keep in mind how the whole system works. Without support by our sponsoring association and the foundation, the Schmittmann-Kolleg would not exist as it does. Especially Benedikt Schmittmann and his wife Helene had a specific role. For more information about them, go on reading the history session.

By the way, we are neither a fraternity, nor are we bound by any other restricting ideology. Benedikt Schmittmann was a devout Catholic, but we never chose our new housemates according to their confession. We are rather interested in your wish to integrate and be part of our group.

The Location

We love our neighborhood – the southern part of Cologne. The location is very central and a tram takes you to Friesenplatz, Neumarkt and the central station within a few minutes. Moreover it is only a five minutes walk to Chlodwigplatz, which is perfect for grocery shopping and also offers a wide range of nice restaurants, cute cafes and Cologne’s typical pubs. Also within walking distance there is the beautiful park “Volksgarten” and the river Rhine with its stylish new harbour “Rheinauhafen”.

The Rooms

Our rooms are quite different from each other. There are smaller and bigger ones, square and longish rooms with either one or two windows. The rent for small rooms is less than for the bigger ones and there are possibilities to change the room when someone moves out. It is important to mention that all rooms are ready furnished and also contain a sink. A bed plus bedside table, a desk and desk chair, as well as a wardrobe and a shelf belong to every room and must not be removed. It is not possible to replace the interior with your own furnitures but mostly there is still enough space to bring some personal furniture and belongings. That is how every housemate creates their very own atmosphere in their room. There are some pictures for you to get an impression how we decorated our rooms and what your future room might look like.