Schübelsberg Castle

Schübelsberg is the older name for Rechenberg, at the foot of which the so-called Rennweg, the oldest road connection from Nuremberg Castle to the east, ran. Several farms with manor houses were located along the road. An old castle of the Bamberg bishops is said to have stood on the old Schübelsberg, though it is neither documented nor archaeologically proven. Sebald Rech allegedly built his mighty residential tower on its foundations in 1524/27.

In 1533, the guardians of Hans Heilmann sold his farm, inherited from his father of the same name, "called zum Schübelsberg," to Sebald Rech. Whether this farm stood on the site of the later manor house is not clear. The "bürgerßheusle zu Schübelsberg," valued at 300 guilders, was destroyed in May 1552 during the Second Margrave War and apparently lay desolate for decades, as it was not until 1582 that Augustin Fürnberger was granted permission for timber to rebuild his house on Schübelsberg on old ground.

In 1597, the farm at Schübelsberg was in the hands of Andreas Imhoff (1562–1637). From his building application from that year, we learn the first details about the manor house, which had a size of about 14.5 by 7.5 meters, a solid plinth floor 3.5 meters high, and above it a half-timbered upper floor of about the same height. Corner turrets and dormers structured the roof. Already 15 years after the reconstruction, the new owner applied for an extensive renovation, which was to replace the half-timbered construction with a solid upper floor. As a reason, he cited "very rotten and deplorable" beams of the half-timbering on the west side. After approval by the Waldamt Sebaldi, the building received its current appearance by 1602.

The sandstone building with two projecting upper floors has a steep gable roof, which is characterized by a delicate dwarf house arranged in the middle of each eave and small shed dormers, and a remarkable Renaissance portal on the east side. From the street, the estate was separated by a high wall, to which a narrow outbuilding was attached west of the entrance and the Voithaus with a half-hipped roof to the east. This state is detailed in a pen drawing around 1614 in the Cnopf sketch book; even the rare, still preserved north sundial can be seen on it.

Further extensions and renovations would not significantly change the appearance of the castle. In 1644, Georg Imhoff (1601–1659) submitted an application for the construction of a carriage shed, and in 1674, his son Georg Endres Imhoff (1640–1713) requested permission to expand his apartment and build a stable. In 1678, he wanted to completely waive a fire right in the gardener's house to transfer it to a building near the opposite cowshed; finally, in 1711, he requested another fire right "for heating and overwintering a small room."

In 1728, the Nuremberg patrician family Ebner followed in ownership, immediately striving for further expansion of the manor house. Johann Wilhelm Ebner (1676–1730), a son-in-law of Georg Endres Imhof, therefore applied "to be allowed to place another room in his free, purely private garden on Schübelsberg above the gardener's dwelling," to set up a hall and 3 chambers there. The request referred to the elongated building leaning against the garden wall west of the entrance, which possessed no less than three fire rights (oven and hearth places). The request was rejected by the council. Around 1910, the building, with the exception of the summer house at the entrance, was still single-story and was demolished in the course of the 20th century.

The Ebners were followed by the market overseer Paul Döbrich, whose daughter Sibylla Barbara married the legal consultant Dr. Paul Jakob Marperger (1686–1767) in 1719. He appears as owner in 1750, and around 1790, a Zeltner family. Despite its proximity to the city, Schübelsberg, with its agricultural outbuildings, was still surrounded by fields and meadows at the beginning of the 20th century. Around 1960, however, the two farmhouses belonging to the castle, Bismarckstrasse 38/40, were "in desolate decay" and were later demolished. In contrast, a well basin and a baroque figural group (Diana with dog and deer) from the 18th century have been preserved in the garden.