Kranzbach Castle

Schloss Kranzbach is a listed building near Klais in the municipality of Krün in Upper Bavaria. It is used as a hotel. In front of the house, director Wilhelm Dieterle filmed scenes for the 1955 movie "Das Schweigen im Walde" (The Silence in the Forest), based on the novel of the same name by Ludwig Ganghofer. Schloss Kranzbach is located in the mountain valley between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald at the foot of the Zugspitze, against the mountain backdrop of Karwendel and Wetterstein.

The Honourable Mary Isabel Portman from London, the builder of Schloss Kranzbach, was a wealthy aristocrat – a very independently acting woman for her time. She was 36 years old when she signed the purchase agreement for the "Kranzbachwiese near Garmisch" in 1913.

The building plans were provided by the renowned English architects Detmar Blow and Fernand Billerey in the style of the English Arts and Crafts movement. Schloss Kranzbach is the only house of its kind in Germany.

The "English Castle," as the complex was soon called by the locals, with its typical stepped gables, is reminiscent of the natural stone-walled country houses in Scotland or Ireland. The complex already included a private concert hall and a grass tennis court at that time.

The First World War thwarted Mary Portman's plans to build a hospitable house for her artist friends. The house was completed in 1915, but Mary Portman never returned there. It is assumed that the builder never saw her house.

In the following years, a wide variety of guests enlivened the secluded property in the Elmau Valley. Young painters stayed for weeks to capture the beauty of the landscape on canvas. In 1929, a film crew from "Deutsche Universal-Film" arrived.

In 1931, the Evangelical Church of Dortmund, looking for a recreation and leisure facility for young people from the Ruhr area, discovered the house and leased it from Mary Portman's heirs.

At Christmas 1933, a fire broke out, severely damaging the house. After renovation, Schloss Kranzbach was again a popular holiday destination for young people. In 1936, it was used as accommodation during the Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In the first years of the Second World War, Schloss Kranzbach was a destination for the "Kinderlandverschickung" (children's evacuation) program. After the end of the war, Schloss Kranzbach was used as a recreation hotel for US Army officers.

In 1947, the holiday operations of the Evangelical Church of Dortmund resumed. At the end of 2003, the church sold the castle to the current hotel operators. "Das Kranzbach" opened as a hotel in 2007.