Over the following years, Krupp bought additional land around the estate and in 1869 placed an advertisement in Deutsche Bauzeitung looking for an architect who would turn his designs for a "large villa" into a viable blueprint.

His focus was very much on a modern and efficient house: design elements were secondary to him and he deemed most ornamental architectural features superfluous.

Since Alfred Krupp wanted a very modern home, the villa was intended to be fire-proof and well insulated from sun, wind, cold and heat.

A large complex of support buildings was erected nearby, including private water and gas works.

[3] Krupp pushed for a speedy completion, although the Franco-Prussian War and collapsing mining tunnels underneath the edifice slowed construction.

The family continued to use the Villa Hügel and Friedrich Alfred Krupp and his wife Margarethe made some significant changes to the house, adding sumptuous ornamentation.

[3] An annex called the Little House (Kleines Haus) containing sixty rooms was used to confine Alfried Krupp in the aftermath of the Second World War.

[4] Some parts of the villa were used to house members of the British post-war Control Commission, Germany (CCG) during 1946.