Prinzenpalais

The Prinzenpalais stands in the centre of Usingen, a small town in the Taunus hills north-west of Frankfurt. It is a plain two-storey rectangle built in the 18th century as a town house for Prince Friedrich August of Nassau-Usingen. Next door is the Beamtenhaus, another modest building of the same period, where the liberal politician August Hergenhahn was born in 1804. The palace became the district headquarters in the 20th century and later housed county offices. After the county was dissolved it fell into disrepair, but its original features remain. A symmetrical front shows a central balcony with carved sandstone brackets and a pediment bearing the prince’s gilt initials. The mansard roof has three dormers and a third storey tucked beneath the eaves. Today the rear additions have been removed and the building is being restored. The street front still shows the paired sash windows and the entrance once had a double flight of steps. The two houses share a walled forecourt, though the connecting passage between them has gone. From the pavement the modest façade gives little hint of the quiet elegance inside.