Wätjens Castle

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Wätjens Castle
Tower of Wätjens Castle

Wätjen's Castle is the name of a country estate in the north of the city of Bremen in the Blumenthal district that originally belonged to the Bremen merchant family Wätjen.

History and present

The Bremen merchant and shipowner Diedrich Heinrich Wätjen had acquired land for a summer residence on the Geestrücken between Vegesack and Blumenthal in 1830 and had a country house built. From 1830 he had the park surrounding the building laid out in the style of a spacious English landscape garden based on plans by the landscape gardener Isaak Altmann .

His son Christian Heinrich Wätjen expanded the property. The original house was replaced by a castle-like villa in the style of English Tudor Gothic , which was built from 1858 to 1864 according to plans by the Bremen architect Heinrich Müller . The park is known today as Wätjens Park .

In 1916 the Wätjen family sold the country estate, which had been converted into a military hospital at the beginning of the First World War . The park was divided between the neighboring industrial companies Bremer Vulkan and Bremer Wollkämmerei (BWK). The castle belonged to the volcano part.

The pointed roof of the higher tower was removed during the Second World War . After the war, the roof and some gables were destroyed by fire. The roof was only poorly restored and much flatter.

After the bankruptcy of the volcano in 1997, the park share was privately auctioned. The city of Bremen later acquired the park area from this buyer and the BWK. The castle and other residential buildings and the associated land remained in private ownership. The intention to set up a restaurant in the castle was not realized. It contains apartments and an artist's studio.

Wätjens Castle has been a listed building since 1973.

literature

  • Rainer Frankenberg: Wätjens Park, a landscape park on the Weser . Building authority Bremen-Nord, Bremen 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-019629-4 .
  • Hans Wätjen: White W in the blue field. The Bremen shipping company and overseas trade DH Wätjen & Co. 1821–1921 . Niedersachsen-Druck, Wolfsburg 1983, ISBN 3-568-93245-8 .

Web links

Commons : Wätjens Schloss  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Iris Messerschmidt: Back in Bremen-Nord. Peter KF Krüger invites you to the exhibition "Morocco" - in his new place of work in Wätjens Castle. weser-kurier.de, May 12, 2012, accessed on December 30, 2012 .
  2. ^ Monument database of the LfD

Coordinates: 53 ° 10 ′ 42 ″  N , 8 ° 35 ′ 9 ″  E