Aumühle Castle

A mill is first mentioned in a document here on the banks of the Perschling as early as 1211. In 1577, it was owned by the brothers Sebastian and Georg Aumüller. Later, it was taken over by St. Pölten city judge Hans Aschinger and elevated to a free estate. The small property had an extremely large number of owners in its otherwise uneventful history. The last commoner owner was Tobias Räminger. From 1637, mostly Lower Austrian nobles followed, such as the Steinacher vom Sachsenwald and in 1653 Hans Franz Freiherr von Lamberg. The core of the current castle building is likely to have originated around this time. In 1669, Hannibal Franz von Bottoni became the owner. His son sold the castle and mill in 1713 to the Counts Althan. Maria Wilhelmine Neuperg, a born Countess Althan, passed the Aumühle on to Andreas Xaver von Dornfeld. After Maria Anna Feyemayr, Franz von Stremayr became the castle owner in 1779. In the following years, owners succeeded each other particularly quickly: Josef von Beznyak (1784), Lorenz Füßer and Johann Michael von Grosser (both 1786). Despite the rapid changes, improvements were continuously made to the castle. The roof and balcony, for example, date from this period. In the 19th century, too, ownership changed relatively frequently. In 1807, Aloysia Beatrice de la Braze and a Marquise von Cavanac acquired the complex. In 1812, it belonged to Countess Therese von Abensberg und Traun. Among the subsequent owners are Wenzel Edler von Sallaba (1836), the Counts Fuchs (1838 – 1889) and Karl Ritter Harras von Harrasowsky (1889). I do not know who commissioned the new facade. In 1910, the castle passed to Dr. Ludwig Ritter Flesch von Festau. In 1929, it was acquired by Franz von Elemer and Vera Fodroczy von Fodrowecz und Borkowecz. In the second half of the 20th century, the Aumühle belonged to the grain wholesaler Fritz Mauthner, who had it stylishly renovated. Since it currently serves as a depot for Probstdorfer Saatzucht Gesellschaft, it is likely still part of the former corporate empire of Fritz Mauthner, who died in 1988.

The charming country castle is located on the edge of the floodplain west of Atzenbrugg. It is a hook-shaped two-story building that, together with the former mill, encloses a large courtyard on three sides. The fourth side is closed off by a wall. A basket-arched gateway flanked by spherical pillars leads into the eastern part of the park. The courtyard-side coat of arms above the entrance is that of the Fodroczy family. To the west, another part of the park is situated in front of the main facade of the manor house. The main building is equipped with a mighty hipped roof covered with larch shingles. Two two-axis side projections extending into the park have slightly lower transverse roofs, making them appear like short side wings. The central three axes of the five-axis middle section are spanned by a simple triangular gable, which features a clock dated 1785 in its center. The ground floor is grooved. In its center is a basket-arched passage leading into the courtyard. The narrow balcony below is bordered by a stone balustrade and supported by volute-like stone consoles. On the courtyard side, six arches on sturdy columns on the ground floor form a groin-vaulted arcade. The side wing bordering the north side of the courtyard is also two-story. The center of its upper floor is emphasized by a large modern sundial. On the south side, the mill stream runs with the former mill in the southeast corner. It is a two-story building with transversely oval ox-eye windows and niches on the western narrow side.