Schönfeld Castle (Kassel)

Schloss Schönfeld was built in 1777 as a private summer residence by Nikolaus Heinrich von Schönfeld. In 1790, it passed into the possession of Landgrave Wilhelm IX. After a brief interlude during which Andries Hendrik Thorbecke attempted to establish a tobacco factory, the castle changed hands multiple times until 1806. Under the Frankfurt banker Carl Jordans, it became a cultural center, attracting figures such as Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim, and the Brothers Grimm. During the period of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807, King Jérôme forced Jordis to sell it and had the castle expanded by Leo von Klenze. After the end of the kingdom, it reverted to Elector Wilhelm I. His son Wilhelm II gifted it in 1841 to his wife Auguste, who gathered the Schönfeld Circle there and initiated further alterations by Johann Conrad Bromeis. After Auguste's death, the complex fell into disrepair under her daughter Caroline. Prussia gifted the castle in 1880 to the collateral line Hessen-Philippsthal.