Haus Bitz, Architectural heritage monument in Frechen, Germany

Haus Bitz is a former noble residence featuring two stories, five window axes, a mansard roof, and an attached tenant house in Baroque style. The property was originally surrounded by two water-filled moats and is now used as an art gallery with office spaces.

Haus Bitz was first documented in the 15th century as the seat of the knights von Hochsteden, and a 1504 tithe register names the brothers Wilhelm and Johann von Hemmerich as owners. In 1674 Jacob von Palant sold it to Sophia Neighausen, widow of Johann Hermann von Heinsberg, who resold it in 1675 for 5,800 Rhenish thalers to Philip von Heyringen. The von Fürstenberg family owned it from 1785 until 1940, when the municipality of Frechen acquired it; the economic buildings were destroyed in World War II.

The name Bitz is tied to the Jülich sub-lordship of Unterbachem, to which the estate belonged together with Burg Bachem. From 1986 the Cologne gallerist Michael Kewenig restored the manor and ran a gallery here with his wife Jule, known beyond Cologne and Frechen. Since 2005 the grounds have housed a software company's headquarters, and since early 2018 the historic house has again been in business use.

The main access is on the north side: a stone arch bridge leads to a lattice gate flanked on its west side by a small guardhouse with a broken mansard roof. The moat is fed by the Bachemer Bach. The grounds are now used by a company, so the interior is not open to visitors; the bridge, gate and moat can be seen from the public path.

The 1990 buildings by Oswald Mathias Ungers stand on the foundation walls of the estate's outbuildings, which were destroyed in the Second World War; only remains of their walls had survived. The new complex, reduced to clear geometric forms, holds a gallery hall and a residential wing.