Birken Castle

Birken Castle probably got its name because, “…perhaps a particularly large - or even in the early days a single birch tree stood here, at least this type of tree is extremely rare around the city…”.

A farm on the Pircken field was first mentioned in a document in 1507. Due to salary arrears, Margrave Christian Ernst gifted it to his Hofmarschall Hans Wilhelm von Erffa in 1684. From 1687 to 1692, after the demolition of the old building, a baroque castle with a baroque garden and tea house was built according to plans by Charles Philippe Dieussart.

In 1740, Christiane Charlotte Freifrau von Stein, née Erffa, established the Baron von Stein Foundation. She stipulated that after her death in 1752, “... four poor noble widows or maidens should always be provided with housing, board and sustenance at Birken ...”. The active beginning of the foundation can be dated to 1756. In 1813, a hospital for nerve fever patients was established at the Baronial von Stein Foundation Birken. During the First World War, the building was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. In 1956, the foundation administration sold Birken Castle to a private individual.

The Birken district as such only emerged in the 1930s, for a long time the castle stood largely alone. As late as 1745, the Riediger map showed the area around the castle as completely undeveloped. The associated farm was abandoned in 1952, and from 1954 to 1978, a nursery was located on the site. Afterwards, a semicircular row of residential houses was built there.