Bütershöfchen Castle

The essential part of the Soerser Haus is the manor house, consisting of the aforementioned, almost square 15th-century tower and two wings from the 16th and 17th centuries. They form a small inner courtyard, which in earlier times could only be reached via an arched bridge. The tower, in particular, is reminiscent of bygone days, although the defensive battlements are merely a romantic addition from the 19th century. The moats that surrounded the former moated castle were filled in during the 19th century.

The first owners from the Püls and von Soersen or Suersen families, after whom the area was named, were important office holders at the Palatinate of Emperor Charlemagne. Their coat of arms, as stated in thick folios, shows three crossed shovels. When the family died out without male descendants, the estate was sold in 1461 to the Aachen citizen Johann Buiter and in 1638 to the alderman Baron Kaspar von Schwarzenberg, not because of the lack of descendants, but because of high debts. The subsequent owners were the Broichs from Laurensberg, the heirs of a Walter von Fisenne, and finally, since 1896, the manor owner Adolf Bischoff. The manor owner Bischoff had the house renovated around 1900. Since then, peculiar buttresses with tensioned segmental arches at the height of the ground floor ceiling have held the dilapidated masonry together like a corset.

In 1968/69, there were plans to demolish the Soerser Haus due to the planned Hollandlinie of the motorway, but protests from the population led to the relocation of the route. The estate was saved, but due to the heavy traffic, its idyllic, quiet location is a thing of the past.