Schloss Eichhof, Architectural heritage monument in Bavaria, Germany.
Schloss Eichhof is a two-storey, two-winged building on a small rise above the Güßbach valley in Coburg's Scheuerfeld district. The ground floor is massive sandstone ashlar, the upper storey half-timbered and clad in slate, with windows set just below the eaves of the hipped roof. The south-west wing, built in the 1670s, has six by four window axes and two dormers per outer side; the narrower north-east wing dates from the early 18th century and carries a broad gable added in 1895.
Eichhof was first recorded in 1440, when Peter von Eychoff appears in the Coburg annals as a newly enrolled citizen holding the farm of the same name in Scheuerfeld. In 1598 Duke Johann Casimir gave the estate to Nicolaus Zech, his rentmaster, as thanks for restoring the ducal finances; five years later the duke had Zech imprisoned, and he died in custody in 1607. The present two-winged building was erected after the Merklin heirs divided the estate in 1676, with the north-east wing added around 1700.
The name Eichhof comes from Peter von Eychoff, recorded in the Coburg annals in 1440. Duke Johann Casimir gave the estate to his finance minister Nicolaus Zech in 1598 as thanks for restoring the court's finances; five years later he had Zech imprisoned for insulting the prince, and Zech died in custody in 1607. Since 1979 the castle has been privately owned and run as a farm with horse breeding.
Schloss Eichhof stands on a small rise above the Güßbach valley in the Scheuerfeld district of Coburg, at Eichhof. It has been privately owned since 1979 and is run as a farm with horse breeding, so the buildings and grounds are not open to visitors; the ensemble is seen from the public paths around the estate.
Three murders mark the estate's records: in 1865 masons demolishing an outbuilding found a body walled in, said to be a Merklin brother killed out of jealousy two centuries earlier. In 1707 owner Johann Christoph von Bach drank heavily at Eichhof before killing a man in a Coburg quarrel, losing his inheritance. In August 1945 the sleeping tenant, Major Erich Randt, was killed and robbed.
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