House Stapel

The flanking towers of the outer bailey and all other outer buildings except the gate tower were built in 1607-1608, the gate tower was built in 1719 possibly according to plans by Maximilian von Welsch. The neoclassical main building was built according to the plans of August Reinking. The castle buildings were completed in 1828. The "Haus Stapel" manor has always belonged to landed gentry families. It was never sold in its entire history, but only passed on to other families through female succession.

At the end of the 18th century, the male line of the "von Kerckerinck zu Stapel" family died out. The heiress's daughter Maria Theresia married Ernst Konstantin Freiherr von Droste zu Hülshoff, an uncle of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, in 1801 at the age of 15. This marriage produced 22 (!) children, but only about half of them reached adulthood and none had descendants. The present castle was built for this large family. When the last of the children died in 1880, the estate was inherited by Klemens Freiherr Droste zu Hülshoff, nephew of Annette and great-grandfather of the present owner. He designated his son Fritz as heir, who did not marry and adopted his brother Clemens' eldest daughter, Ermengard. Since their marriage in 1956, the owner family has been called Raitz von Frentz. Annette von Droste Hülshoff regularly came to the Stapel house to teach her cousins.

Would you like to learn more about the history? On the website of Haus Stapel, the current owner of the castle, Dr. med. Mechthild Freifrau Raitz von Frentz, presents the history of the house and the "Haus Stapel Concerts" in a video portrait produced for the German Foundation for Monument Protection.