Holzhausenschlösschen

The Holzhausenschlösschen is a moated former country house built by the patrician Holzhausen family on their farm, then just north of Frankfurt and now in the city's Nordend. The present building was completed in 1729, built for Johann Hieronymus von Holzhausen on the foundations of a moated castle from the Middle Ages after a design by Louis Remy de la Fosse. Today, it serves as a venue for cultural events.HistoryThe palace was built between 1727 and 1729 by Johann Hieronymus von Holzhausen on the foundations of a moated castle from the Middle Ages. The Holzhausen family, from 1245 one of the most respected families of the free imperial city Frankfurt, owned the property called Holzhausen Oed since 1470. The term "Oed" refers to the heath, then far outside the fortified city of Frankfurt. The family used the area first for farming. A moated castle was set in the then much larger Burgweiher . The castle was expanded in 1540 but destroyed in 1552 in the siege of Frankfurt by Maurice, Elector of Saxony.In 1727 the present building was begun, commissioned by Johann Hieronymus von Holzhausen as a summer residence for his family after plans by Louis Remy de la Fosse. It was completed in 1729.Due to the growth of the city in the 19th century, the palace is now in Frankfurt's Nordend, surrounded on three sides by the eponymous Holzhausenpark. The pond and the surrounding park were reduced and re-landscaped in 1910, when an allée of chestnut trees was planted. The vastness of the former park can be estimated by the position of an iron gate from the late 18th century, which remains as part of the former enclosure on the street Oederweg. The last male member of the Holzhausen family, Adolph von Holzhausen, gave the palace and the surrounding park to the city of Frankfurt. It then housed the Frankfurt office of the Reichsarchiv .