Villa “Loebel” (orig. Löbell) was built in 1881, among the first villas in the historic quarter of Juodkrantė. Villa “Loebel” belonged to Miss Cecilia Bein, the owner of the Variškės manor near Nemunas (Tilsit county). The facades of the first and second floors of the villa had a spacious gallery decorated with openwork, which gave the building an impression of lightness and spaciousness. The owners of Juodkrantė villas at that time sought to create an image of luxury attractive to summer vacationers.

Miss Bein bequeathed the villa to the city of Tilsit to be used as a summer holiday residence for orphan childred. Therefore, this villa was often called simply “The Tilsit Children’s Colony”. Every summer, over a hundred orphans from the city of Tilsit resided in the villa. The villa is located in the central part of the Juodkrantė villa quarter. Juodkrantė (germ. Schwarzort) was one of the ten best Baltic Sea resorts in Germany until the Second World War. After the Second World War, villa “Loebel” was turned in the holiday residence “Smilga”. After Lithuania regained its independence in the 1990s, a grocery store was opened in the premises of the villa.

The wooden villa was restored in 2022, preserving many of the authentic details dating back to 1881.

Based on the information form the historical report of the villa