Old Manor Being Considered as New Home for President
The Liberty Manor, a historic but currently broken-down house at the site of the Estonian Open Air Museum in Tallinn, may be used in the future to accommodate the President of Estonia, Eesti Ekspress wrote yesterday.
The villa was built in 1905 for the wealthy banker Egon Koch. The three-floor wooden villa is roomy at around 500 square meters and served as a summer house for Koch's family.
ETV reported the building has been in disuse for decades and needs extensive repairs.
The building was located outside the Tallinn city limits in early 20th century, but is now within the city limits. It takes roughly thirty minutes to commute from the villa to the president's official workplace in the Kadriorg district.
While the president's office has shown interest with the building, there are currently no development plans or construction dates set and it is not likely there is enough time to renovate the villa during Toomas Hendrik Ilves' presidency.
The president’s family currently lives in the 1930s-era official residence in Kadriorg, which has 150 square meters of usable living space, with just two bedrooms and a single bathroom.