Waldthausen Castle

Waldthausen Castle is a stately villa in the Lennebergwald forest between Mainz and Budenheim in the Mainz-Bingen district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The villa and several outbuildings were constructed between 1908 and 1910 on behalf of Baron Martin Wilhelm von Waldthausen (1875–1928) by architect Hans Bühling. Architecturally, the castle villa is designed in the style of a Staufer palas building and features a striking, keep-like square tower.

Construction Period

The builder of Waldthausen Castle, Martin Wilhelm von Waldthausen, came from the respected Essen patrician and industrialist family Waldthausen and was a Rittmeister in a hussar regiment stationed in Mainz. In 1907, he decided to have a castle-like villa built for himself and his family in the Lennebergwald forest near Budenheim, on a prominent ridge above the left bank of the Rhine. One motive for the strikingly opulent execution of the building is said to have been von Waldthausen's desire for prestige in relation to German Emperor Wilhelm II. The Baron is said to have instructed his architect Hans Bühling to erect the villa in the style of the Imperial Castle in Poznań, which the Emperor had built there from 1905 to 1913.

In 1908, von Waldthausen bought approximately 95 hectares in the Lennebergwald from the municipality of Budenheim for a good 161,000 Marks. Construction work on the villa began in December of the same year. By January 1910, it was completed – as were a machine building with a workshop, a gatehouse, a stable building, a carriage house, a laundry room, and residential buildings for staff.

Waldthausen Castle is architecturally modeled after a Staufer palas building and is crowned by a keep-like square tower. The entire complex, with its historicizing architectural style, is characteristic of the late phase of the German Empire.

Not only the buildings were magnificent, but also the interior of the castle villa. Numerous craft businesses in Mainz and Rheinhessen benefited from the construction and interior design of Waldthausen Castle. Several nurseries were involved in clearing the building plot, creating an extensive park, and designing a large terraced castle garden with a fish pond. The total cost for the complex is said to have reached the very high sum for that time of 18 million Marks.

In 1913, von Waldthausen acquired further parts of the Lennebergwald in the vicinity so that his estate could no longer be seen from the outside. This included the "Ludwigshöhe" forester's lodge, built around 1840, which had developed into a popular excursion restaurant. The Baron had the forester's lodge demolished and rebuilt next to the two Wendelinus chapels in the Lennebergwald. However, already in 1914, with the beginning of the First World War, he and his family left Germany and lived thereafter in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The Baron never visited his villa again.

Time after the First World War

After the end of the First World War, French troops were briefly quartered in Waldthausen Castle in 1919. However, they vacated the complex in the same year after von Waldthausen, with diplomatic support from Switzerland, achieved an end to the quartering.

After the death of Martin Wilhelm von Waldthausen (1928) and his wife Klara (1940), the heirs sold the villa, including outbuildings and a large part of the forest area, to the National Socialist People's Welfare organization in January 1941. During the Second World War, mothers and children at risk from the war were accommodated on the estate as part of the so-called Kinderlandverschickung (evacuation of children).

Time after the Second World War

After the Second World War, Waldthausen Castle was initially confiscated by American and then by French troops. The military governor for the French occupation zone in Germany, General Marie-Pierre Kœnig, had Waldthausen Castle extensively converted into his residence, but could no longer use the villa because he was recalled in 1949.

After the withdrawal of the French, the Federal Property Office took over the estate in 1955. From 1956 to 1978, the estate was used by the Federal Civil Defense School, and the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) also used the area for a supply depot and for exercises by ABC defense troops. In 1978, the city of Mainz acquired the castle villa and the surrounding area, and the use by the Bundeswehr ceased. Waldthausen Castle was placed under monument protection, and the entire complex was declared a monument zone.

In December 1982, the entire estate was then sold to the Sparkassen- und Giroverband Rheinland-Pfalz (Savings Banks and Giro Association Rhineland-Palatinate), then based in Mainz, which renovated the castle villa and established the Sparkassenakademie Rheinland-Pfalz (Savings Banks Academy Rhineland-Palatinate) as an education and meeting center there from 1988. In addition, the association moved its headquarters and administration into a new office building constructed in the castle park. The garden and park facilities around Waldthausen Castle have since been freely accessible to the public. Public events such as exhibitions, readings, and concerts also regularly take place in the villa itself.

The grounds also house a building of the International Police Association.