Orr Castle (Ruin)

Once a significant knight's estate, the Orr Ruin in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia mimicked the architecture of a Gothic castle.

Orr was first documented in 1264 under the name “Urre.” In the 13th century, Jh. Friedrich von Gyltling was known as the lord of Orr. In 1342, Gobelinus von Udenkoven donated lands to the convent of St. Severin. From 1576 onwards, disputes arose between the Archbishop of Cologne and the Duke of Jülich-Berg over territorial sovereignty, which temporarily complicated the taxation of Orr's inhabitants. The current two-story manor house was built around 1838 for banker Peter Daniel Koch, based on designs by Cologne Cathedral architect Ernst Friedrich Zwirner. Koch's heirs later sold the estate to Werner Pagenstecher.