Hackhausen Castle, Baroque château in Solingen, Germany.
Hackhausen Castle is a two-storey, rectangular rendered building with a mansard roof, dormer windows and a small neo-Rococo lantern, surrounded by a moat fed by the Viehbach stream and crossed by a stone walkway. Green shutters reflect the Bergisch style. The present structure dates largely from 1907, after a fire destroyed the previous Rococo castle.
A water castle existed on the site by the 14th century. In the 15th century the Dukes of Berg acquired it by inheritance, but Duke Wilhelm of Jülich-Berg sold it in 1485 to the von Bottlenberg-Kessel family. They demolished the decayed old castle in 1772 and replaced it with a larger Rococo water castle. On 22 April 1887 the estate manager set it on fire; only ground-floor walls survived. In 1907 August von Recklinghausen and Richard Berg rebuilt it to old plans by architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg.
The name Hackhausen comes from the old Hackhausen estate, first documented as a water castle by the 14th century. The green window shutters recall the Bergisch style of the region, while the mansard roof and small lantern follow Neo-Rococo models. The estate remains private and cannot be visited inside.
The castle stands off Bonner Straße (L 288) in the Ohligs district, on the edge of the Ohligser Heide. The building is privately owned and not open to visitors, though entering the courtyard is permitted. The grounds are best reached by car or on foot from the surrounding area.
In the castle park, two plane trees, two copper beeches, a horse chestnut and a sycamore maple are protected as natural monuments in the landscape plan. The grounds, with their outer bailey and garden, were entered in Solingen's list of archaeological monuments in 2018.
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