Kranzbach Castle

The construction of Schloss Kranzbach began in 1913 when the London aristocrat Mary Isabel Portman acquired the property. She commissioned the architects Detmar Blow and Fernand Billerey to draw up the plans. Completed in 1915, the castle, with its stepped gables reminiscent of Scottish or Irish country houses, was originally intended as a welcoming place for Portman's artist friends. However, the outbreak of the First World War prevented her return to Kranzbach. In the following decades, the estate was enlivened by various guests, including painters and a film crew in 1929. From 1931, the Protestant Church of Dortmund leased the castle as a recreation center for young people.