Schloss Gusterheim, Château in Pöls-Oberkurzheim, Austria

Schloss Gusterheim is an elongated two-story building in Poles-Oberkurzheim featuring two small inner courtyards and an eastern tower crowned by a baroque dome. The entire complex shows features of noble architecture and functionality that developed through multiple phases of renovation across centuries.

Gusterheim began as the Gusterhof, the largest farm of the Offenburg estate. In 1629 Christof Viehhauser, manager for the Teuffenbacher family at Reifenstein, bought it from Appolonia von Landau and converted it into a noble seat. His daughter Esther sold it in 1658 to Christian Johann Payrlechner, who renamed it Gusterheim and rebuilt it from 1661 to 1663. In 1698 Prince Ferdinand of Schwarzenberg acquired it, and from 1706 it housed the judge of the Reifenstein district court.

The name Gusterheim goes back to Christian Johann Payrlechner, who bought the estate in 1658 and called it by that name; Emperor Leopold I then allowed him to style himself 'von Lerchtenthal und Gusterheim'. The building had been the Gusterhof, the largest farmstead of the area, before it became a noble seat.

The castle functions as a residence and administrative building for a large forestry operation but remains viewable from the outside for visitors. It is best reached on foot and exterior viewing is possible, though visitors should maintain respectful distance from the working property.

The arrest cells set up in the building for the Reifenstein district court were built with material taken from the already partly ruined Reifenstein castle. The estate stayed with the Schwarzenberg family: since 1698 it passed to Elisabeth von Pezold, born a Schwarzenberg princess in 1947, who had it extensively restored in 1972.