Eichhof Castle (Lauterbach)

The "Haus auf dem Eichberg", also known as Schloss Eichhof, was built by Friedrich Hermann Riedesel as a residence between 1899 and 1901, with a large park also being laid out. In 1929, the city acquired the entire property and relocated the hospital into the spacious building. After the Second World War, it was continuously expanded with new constructions. In the process, the impressive outbuildings belonging to the castle and its connection to the park were largely lost. The architect of Eichhof was government master builder Hugo Hartung from Charlottenburg. "Among his buildings, in which he preferably uses medieval forms," Thieme-Becker names "Schloß in Eichhof near Lauterbach...", which, however, was not built in a medieval style, but in a Neo-Baroque style at the client's request. The two-story, longitudinally oriented building is structured by fluted pilasters, risalits, and a strong cornice. The mansard roof is extended by gables and dormers and features emphatically modeled chimneys and elaborate ridge crests. The facades originally facing the park are opened on the ground floor by particularly large round-arched windows. A veranda is built into the southeastern corner of the building, above it a balcony with a triglyph frieze, supported by Doric columns. The main entrance with its richly designed double-leaf door is found in an open, heraldically adorned porch on the north side, above it a balcony and a transverse gable. Next to the entrance, a window axis under a broken segmental pediment is designed as a risalit. The west facade is structured by colossal blind arches for the high staircase windows. Inside, the large hall with its painted stucco ceiling and the staircase designed in imitation of that of the Hohhaus is remarkable. The Eichhof did not remain without influence on the subsequent villa architecture in Lauterbach.