Burg Güsten

Burg Güsten stands in Güsten, a district of Jülich in the Düren district of North Rhine-Westphalia. The complex began as a medieval moated castle called the Harffenburg, though its origins remain unclear. By the late 18th century it had become a manor house, rebuilt on older foundations and later owned by the Coenen and Bürsgens families. The four-winged brick structure encloses a trapezoidal courtyard of about 21.5 by 35 metres. A round-arched gateway in the north wing leads inside, where the two-storey manor faces Johannesstraße. Its red-washed façade is divided into six window bays, each with Blaustein lintels and sills. A three-storey tower in the third bay once served as the gatehouse; its upper floor was added in the late 19th century and shows a small frieze typical of the period. The remaining wings date from the 18th and 19th centuries and mix brick ground floors with timbered upper storeys. Modern additions adapt the buildings for their current use as a stud farm. Traces of the old water-filled moats can still be seen in the surrounding ground.