Haus Lerbach

In the heart of Bergisch Gladbach, nestled amidst a sprawling 26-hectare English landscape park, stands Haus Lerbach. This grand estate, with its neo-Renaissance architecture, whispers tales of centuries past. Haus Lerbach’s story begins in 1384, not as a grand manor, but as a fortified water castle. Its name, thought to derive from the Middle High German “lei/leie”, meaning rock or slate, hints at its location near the rocky Lerbach stream. Over the centuries, Haus Lerbach witnessed a parade of notable residents. From the von Forstbach family in the 15th and 16th centuries to Gottfried von Steinen IV, a prominent figure who, in 1644, reconstructed the manor, encasing it in a protective embrace of water. But Haus Lerbach wasn’t destined to remain a water castle forever. In 1893, Richard Zanders, a paper manufacturer, and his wife, Anna, a daughter of the renowned inventor Werner von Siemens, purchased the estate. The Zanders, visionaries of their time, commissioned a new manor house in the fashionable English country house style. The year 1898 saw the completion of this architectural marvel, designed by Gabriel von Seidl, and the old water castle met its end, its moat transformed into a tranquil pond. Today, Haus Lerbach stands as a testament to time, its history woven into the very fabric of its being. This magnificent estate, with its idyllic parkland setting, offers a glimpse into a bygone era, where the echoes of history whisper through the trees and the grand halls of Haus Lerbach.