Altkettenhof Castle

The origins of Altkettenhof Castle date back to the 13th century, when a complex was built in the Alt-Kettenhof district. In 1760, Heinrich Kajetan von Blümegen, the First Chancellor of the Austrian Archduchy, acquired the estate and had it expanded. In 1766, together with two partners, he founded the Kettenhof chintz and calico factory. After his death, his son Franz Heinrich Graf von Blümegen resided in the castle until 1813. In 1814, the estate passed to the brothers Moritz and Philip Jacob Reichsgraf von Fries. After further changes of ownership, including the brothers von Ziegler and Karl Mayer, the diplomat Johann Bernhard von Rechberg acquired the castle in 1850. In 1872, he sold it to the brewing industrialist Anton Dreher junior, who in 1902 commissioned a Neo-Baroque redesign by architects Emil Bressler and Johann Miksch. After Dreher's death in 1921, his wife Katharina lived in the castle until 1937. Her son Eugen Dreher gifted it to the city of Schwechat in 1938, which in turn handed it over to the German Labor Front.