Dammsmühle Castle

The site's origins date back to the 16th century, when a mill existed there, likely belonging to the Lehnin Cistercian monastery. In the mid-18th century, during the construction of a new mill, traces of a fire were discovered on old millstones. Around 1650, the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg had a hunting lodge built on this spot. In 1755, the Berlin leather manufacturer Peter Friedrich Damm acquired the land and in 1768 built a two-story palace in the forest west of Schönwalde. After Damm's death, the building fell into disrepair until it was acquired in 1894 by Lieutenant Adolf Wollank. He had the castle rebuilt in Neo-Baroque style, adding an extra floor and a tower with an onion dome. An oriental ballroom on an artificial island was also created. After Wollank's death in 1915, his brother Otto managed the estate. Several changes of ownership followed, including in 1929 by Unilever director Harry Goodwin Hart, who had to leave Germany in 1938 and was dispossessed in 1940.