Schloss Semlow

Schloss Semlow is a classical-style manor house in the village of Semlow in Vorpommern-Rügen. It stands in gently rolling countryside where the fields meet the woods. The building was altered after 1945, so its present façade is plainer than when it was first built. The house was commissioned by Carl von Behr-Negendank and designed by the Strelitz court architect Friedrich Wilhelm Buttel around 1825. His son Ulrich enlarged it about 1850 by adding an orangery and a two-storey residential wing. After the Second World War the family left and the building became a home for refugees. Later it served as a school, kindergarten and library before being restored in private hands. Today the owners rent out the grand hall and a hunting cellar for weddings and concerts, and one guest room is also available. The central section of the house is two storeys high with fifteen window bays on the front. A three-bay projection carries four columns supporting a balcony above the main entrance. The rear of the building rises to three storeys and has seventeen window bays, the middle five forming another projection. The eastern wing, added around 1850 as an orangery, once had a small square tower which was removed during later repairs.