In the mid-19th century, Bonn was known as the "Rhenish Riviera". Attractive building sites on the Rhine were booming. Numerous Rhine villas with imposing gardens, mainly in a landscaped style, were built during this period, such as the Villa Hammerschmidt and the neighboring Palais Schaumburg.

As early as 1862/63, the merchant Albrecht Troost commissioned the master builder August Dieckhoff to construct a villa at this location on the banks of the Rhine. Leopold Koenig, the "Sugar King", bought the property in 1867 and had the villa extended by Otto Penner in the neoclassical style.

The five-hectare landscaped park was laid out in 1878 by the Hamburg garden director F.J.C. Jürgen. The fact that Leopold Koenig spared no expense is demonstrated by the palm house with its glass dome - both a cold and a warm house. In addition to a billiard room, it also had a shell room with a side length of more than 40 meters. He had the bank walls decorated with a Nibelungen grotto. In 1899, the estate became the property of Privy Councillor of Commerce Rudolf Hammerschmidt. He too had enjoyed success as a sugar manufacturer and made the villa the social center of culture and business.

After the Federal Republic of Germany designated Villa Hammerschmidt as the official residence of the Federal President, Hermann Mattern was commissioned in 1949 to combine the gardens of Villa Hammerschmidt and Palais Schaumburg into one park. He designed an open landscape park with free-flowing paths, spacious lawns and wide sightlines to the Rhine. He supplemented the existing old trees with conifers, some of which were rare. The pines and cedars he preferred still give the garden its unmistakable character today and provide a setting for the contemporary sculptures by Heiliger, Marcks and Uhlmann.