The Villa Merkel was built in 1873 for the Esslingen industrialist Oskar Merkel to designs by the Stuttgart architect Otto Tafel. Oskar Merkel "represents a group of people who rose tobecome the men who set the tone of community affairs and the social life of the town in the first half of the 19th century"(J. Fekete, in: brochure "Die Villa Merkel in Esslingen"). The firm of Merkel & Kienlin (Merkel & Wolf before 1891) produced the prestigious "Esslingen Wool" that was one of the important features of the Württemberg textile industry until the 1960s. Oskar Merkel followed a trend that was symptomatic of the years of rapid industrial development in the early 1870s by moving from the confines of the town into the countryside. He had his new Neo-Renaissance style house built in landscaped garden, now the Pulverwiesen, beyond the existing railway line. He showed how progressive and open-minded he was at the same time, by choosing a site that was so close to this pulsating transport artery. The Galerien der Stadt Esslingen, housed in the Villa Merkel and the Bahnwärterhaus, are a muncipal insitution for temporary exihibitions of contemporary international art. At present 15 rooms offering about 500m2; of exhibition space are used on two floors of the Villa Merkel. The adjacent, smaller Bahnwärterhaus is used mainly to show youngand experimental art, or works that have not been exposed to a wide public. Both buildings are used concurrently for large projects, like for example the well-known "International Photo -Triennial", often complemented by other venues in the town.