Spiess Palace (Erkelenz)

The three-winged House Spiess was built in 1806 on Franziskanerplatz in the Couven style, named after the Aachen architect and master builder Johann Joseph Couven, with classicist and late Baroque elements. It bears the name of its builder, Johann Joseph Spiess, an Alsatian who was an officer in the bodyguard of the French King Louis XVI and served as domain administrator and rent master in Erkelenz during the French occupation (1797–1814) under Napoleon. Since 1978, the building has been owned by the city, which had a French-style garden with symmetrical forms laid out again on a property behind it, which has since been developed for other purposes, and uses the estate for representative receptions, weddings, and exhibitions.