Garath Castle

Garath Castle is an estate first mentioned in documents at the end of the 13th century in the Düsseldorf district of Garath, which shares its name.

It is now assumed that the knight's seat of Garath already existed in the 9th century. Among others, the knightly family of Garderode resided here. Nevertheless, the origins of Garath Castle are not precisely clarified. At the end of the 14th century, it belonged to the Knights of Kalkum. The name Garath Castle has only been common since the 20th century; before that, it was often referred to as Haus Garath. At Garath Castle, the Rietrather Bach and the Galkhauser Bach flow into the Garather Mühlenbach.

The old castle was built at the behest of the von Velbrück family between the 16th and 18th centuries, as was the gate tower, the only remaining part of the old castle today. The castle park was designed in the 18th century by Nicolas de Pigage, who was also the architect of Benrath Castle. After the Counts of Velbrück, the Barons von Kylmann were the owners of Garath Castle. Through marriage, the castle passed to the Barons Raitz von Frentz at the beginning of the 19th century. The old castle, with the exception of the gate tower, was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century after Albert von Burgsdorff, son-in-law of the industrialist Gustav Poensgen, acquired the estate from Baron Raitz von Frentz. Subsequently, he had the current Garath Castle built on the same site in 1912 and 1913. His son Alhard continued his father's "Garather Chicken Farm" on the property and made it world-famous.

After the Second World War, British troops occupied the castle, and it remained in the possession of the British government until the 1950s, when the Federal Republic bought it and handed it over to the Deutsche Bundespost. On April 29, 1978, the city of Düsseldorf acquired Garath Castle from the Deutsche Bundespost for 1.3 million DM and used it mostly for cultural events. A neo-baroque castle chapel, built by the architect Max Wöhler, is also located in the castle park today. Today, the castle is used commercially by numerous businesses.