Gusow Castle

Gusow Castle is a castle in the municipality of Gusow-Platkow in Brandenburg. It is listed in the monument list of the state of Brandenburg.

The first documented mention dates back to 1353. In 1649, the Brandenburg Electorate's Field Marshal and Governor of Pomerania, Georg von Derfflinger, acquired the manor house from the Schapelow family. There is no reliable information about the appearance of the old manor house. Derfflinger often stayed in Gusow. In 1695, his son Friedrich inherited the manor house. After his death in 1724, General Heinrich Karl von der Marwitz bought it, whose son-in-law Otto Friedrich Christoph von Podewils inherited it in 1744. From 1750, he expanded the manor house into a three-wing complex. The baroque garden was also redesigned. In 1781, his son Friedrich Heinrich von Podewils inherited the manor house. He created the neo-Gothic ruin in the garden.

From 1805, members of the House of Schönburg resided at Gusow. The castle was no longer a stately residence, but a hunting or summer retreat. Between 1870 and 1873, the castle was completely redesigned, with plans commissioned in 1847 by Count Heinrich von Schönburg-Hinterglauchau. The plans were drawn up by the Wriezen regional master builder Ferdinand Neubart, who designed the castle based on models by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The style was Neo-Gothic, with details executed in Tudor style. A special feature was the richly ornamented chimney tops.

After the death of the last Count of Schönburg-Hinterglauchau in 1900, his widow, Countess Frieda († 1943), lived at Gusow Castle for many years. In 1943, the castle became the "first wartime retirement home in the Lebus district". Sick and elderly people who came from bombed-out cities found temporary shelter here. Shortly before the end of World War II, Gusow Castle was used by the Wehrmacht as a camp and command post. After World War II, the Red Army briefly moved into the castle. In 1948, the castle became the property of the municipality of Gusow. During GDR times, it served as a grain store, a poultry plucking facility, a school, a kindergarten, or the seat of the village administration. The municipality sold the empty castle in 1992 for three million Deutschmarks to a Berlin architect.