Hutten Castle

The building was constructed around 1720 by the then Dean of the Cathedral and later Prince-Bishop Christoph Franz von Hutten (1673–1729) as a private summer palace in a representative park. The architects were probably Joseph Greising († 1721) or his pupil Georg Bayer († 1726). The builder intended the structure to underscore his claim to the position of Prince-Bishop, to which he was elected in 1725. The complex with the palace and park was built in the southwest of the city directly outside the city fortifications that still existed at the time. While the park was opened for public use, the palace remained reserved for the owner. An inscription carved into the masonry attested to the concept: publicae amoenitati et privatae salubritati.

In 1803, the von Hutten family sold the plot of land and the building. Thereafter, the property had six different owners until 1884. When the defortification of Würzburg began around the mid-19th century, i.e., the dismantling of the old military fortifications, the park was increasingly fragmented by the construction of apartment buildings. By 1854, the garden around the building was only a tenth of its original size, and the property increasingly fell into disrepair.

In November 1884, the alumni association of Corps Rhenania Würzburg acquired the property and the building. The palace, and especially the large ballroom, were renovated, the stucco ceiling renewed and repainted.

Until about 1900, further urban development measures took place as part of the Main riverbank regulation, which significantly changed the area around the palace. During the construction of the Ludwigsbrücke and the Hochkai, the area around the palace was raised by 1.6 meters. The Huttenschlösschen was therefore demolished in 1904 and 1905, given a basement, and largely rebuilt with original material, reconstructing the grand staircase and the historic stucco ceilings. In the process, the building, along with the two side gates, was rotated by 90 degrees, thereby creating an axial relationship to the new Ringpark. The garden plot around the building recalled its old function as a garden palace.

During the bombing raid on Würzburg on March 16, 1945, two-thirds of the building were damaged. The roof, the attic, the ceilings above the first floor and ground floor, the street-facing balcony, and the entire interior were destroyed. Only the massive exterior and interior walls remained standing. In 1950, Corps Rhenania rebuilt the Huttenschloss. The topping-out ceremony for the reconstruction was celebrated on December 8, 1951.