Uninhabited
ManorDannenwalde
Dannenwalde Manor
Dannenwalde Manor is a castle in Dannenwalde, a district of Gransee. It dates from the late 17th century but has been significantly rebuilt repeatedly in the following centuries. The existing building fabric was last altered in 1937. The manor consists of a corps de logis with two side wings forming a courtyard of honor. Opposite the main entrance on the symmetrical axis of the estate stands the neo-Gothic patronal church of the von Waldow family.
The manor is now located in the Dannenwalde district of the Brandenburg town of Gransee. Originally, however, the Dannenwalde estate belonged to Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Dannenwalde was probably already in the possession of the von Priegnitz family as a knightly fief in the early Middle Ages, who exercised manorial rights there until the 15th century. After that, the estate belonged to various families of the long-established Mecklenburg knighthood, such as the Buch and Kosboth families.
In 1692, the Brandenburg family von Waldow became the owner of the Dannenwalde estate. The estate remained in the possession of the von Waldow family until its expropriation in 1945; one of the last owners from this family was the Prussian politician Wilhelm von Waldow. In 1868, the writer and artist Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg died on the estate, which at that time belonged to his brother-in-law - the chamberlain Franz von Waldow.
In 1941, for the film adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's novel "Der Weg ins Freie" (The Way to Freedom) (directed by Rolf Hansen), some scenes, including those with Zarah Leander, were filmed in the courtyard of honor of the manor. The exterior facilities are visible, a few years before the looting and partial decay.
Shortly after the Second World War, the house was plundered but remained undamaged. During the GDR era, the building housed a secondary school named after the communist resistance fighter Karl Sperling. In 1990, the building was largely dilapidated. The house was then used by the "Naturfreunde" association as accommodation for cycle tourists.
The main building has been vacant for about ten years. The roof renovation has been completed, but the interior renovation is still pending. Apartments are located in the side buildings (status for this paragraph: 2008).
The "Kirche am Weg" (Church on the Way), which was also severely dilapidated until 1990, has now been renovated and serves as a refreshment stop for cycle tourists passing through the village on the Berlin-Copenhagen cycle path.
Architecture+
The current manor house was built at the end of the 17th century - probably on the remains of an old castle complex. The cellar system is significantly older than the house standing on it. The complex included the main house with two side buildings and a separate farmstead. In the 18th century, the buildings were renovated in the Rococo style, and later in the 20th century, in 1908 and 1937, and again during the GDR era.
The nine-axis corps de logis comprises two stories under a mansard roof. The central risalit is decorated with a column portal of four half-columns bearing the inscription "Non dormit qui me custodit" ("He who guards me does not sleep"; after Psalm 121:3). Above it are four small putti in the form of the four seasons. Above the entrance door is a small balcony, with the coats of arms of the von Waldow and Bismarck families on either side. The two side buildings, the Cavalier's House on the left and the Economy and Servants' House on the right, of which only the one on the right is directly connected to the main house, are single-story.
On the garden side, the formerly existing staircase to the garden is missing. The portal in the middle of the garden front is preserved, the balcony above it is only very dilapidated and without an intact railing. From the paved area below the house, a wide flight of steps leads into the garden below with old trees on the sides.
The single-story patronal church of the then estate owner, Vice-Land Marshal and Commendator of the Order of St. John Ferdinand Thomas von Waldow (1765-1830), was built by the master builder Hermann from Zehdenick, a student of Gilly or Schinkel, in 1821 in the Neo-Gothic style on an elongated octagonal floor plan. The building replaced a dilapidated medieval predecessor.
The church was used for services until 1975 and then increasingly fell into disrepair. In the 1990s, the church was threatened with collapse due to penetrating moisture. The organ, gallery balustrades, and the cast-iron family crest of the von Waldow family had been stolen. The church was therefore closed in 1995. However, a private initiative for the preservation of the church, together with the parish, campaigned for its renovation, so that the church could be re-consecrated at Easter 1998. An interior renovation is still pending.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 53.0790, 13.1865