Gotisches Haus Castle (Bad Homburg)

The Gothic House on the city limits of Bad Homburg, in the district of Dornholzhausen, is a former hunting lodge, which since 1985 has housed the Bad Homburg City Archives and the city's cultural history museum.

Landgravine Elisabeth had the Gothic House built in 1823 for her husband, Landgrave Friedrich VI, in the Neo-Gothic style. The foundation stone was laid on April 17, 1823. The hunting lodge is located at the end of Tannenwaldallee, which creates a direct connection between Bad Homburg Castle and the Gothic House and was part of the landgravial gardens.

Elisabeth, whose dowry made the construction possible, planned it as a representative location for the Landgrave's festivities and excursions. The designer is not known. Friedrich Lotz suspected the architect Jeffry Wyatville – creator of the expansion of Windsor Castle. Georg Moller was responsible for the construction management. On November 9, 1823, scaffolding collapsed, burying eight workers. All were injured, one died from the consequences of the accident. The Landgravine then ordered the construction work to stop.

In 1860, the Gothic House became the property of the landgravial forest administration, which, however, only used some rooms; the others were available for viewing and rental. This did not change even after 1866, when Hessen-Homburg became Prussian as a result of the 1866 war. However, part of the building was reserved for use by the Prussian royal court.

Emperor Wilhelm II wanted to have "monument protection secured in the land register" when reselling it to an innkeeper; why this did not happen is unclear. In 1929, the new owner had the house converted into a hotel with a restaurant and café by installing an intermediate ceiling and making other structural changes. The hunting lodge was a popular excursion and recreation spot for Bad Homburg residents and was connected to the Bad Homburg tram network from 1899 to 1923.

After the Second World War, the slow decline of the house began with several changes of ownership. For many old Homburg residents, the establishment of the "Ponderosa Saloon" discotheque was the ultimate low point.

In 1968, the property was sold by the then owner, the Obertaunuskreis, to the Frankfurt real estate speculator Jan Lipinski, and the building seemed irretrievably lost. In addition, two seven-story high-rise buildings were erected directly next to the Gothic House. The "staff apartments" for a planned hotel are two architectural blunders that still do not fit into the local and landscape scenery today.

In 1977, the Gothic House was literally entered into the monument register "at the last minute". In 1980, after Lipinski's bankruptcy, the property passed into the possession of a property management company in Frankfurt.

After a fire on December 9, 1980, the hunting lodge was completely restored starting in 1981. Since 1985, it has housed the Bad Homburg City Archives and the city's cultural history museum with changing special exhibitions. The museum has permanent sections on the history of the city and the Landgraviate of Hessen-Homburg, on art, fashion and headwear ("Hat Museum"), as well as a coin cabinet and a café. The well-known "Homburg" hat is the focus of the hat exhibition.

The Gothic House is today a cultural monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act.