Schloss Eicherhof

Schloss Eicherhof stands in Leichlingen in the Rhineland, a two-storey manor house built in 1762–63 in the French taste of the day. It sits beside the Villa Weyermann and was commissioned by Jacob Wilhelm Behagel von Hack, who had inherited the land from his uncle, the Cologne banker Wilhelm Hack. Before the house rose, two copper forges on the site supplied blanks for the mint in Düsseldorf, and the street name Am Hammer still recalls their work. The estate passed in 1811 to Johann Friedrich Wülfing, a merchant from Elberfeld who assembled large estates across the Bergisches Land. Wülfing entertained King Jérôme of Westphalia and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia at the house in the early 19th century. Later owners included his daughter Emma Schniewind and her son-in-law Wilhelm Boeddinghaus, president of the Elberfeld Chamber of Commerce, whose wife Alice welcomed the Prince of Wales in 1919. The manor’s mansard roof and small tower mark its French-inspired design. A circular rose garden, once part of a landscaped park laid out by Emma Schniewind, occupies the forecourt, flanked by two carriage houses. Today the building serves as offices for several companies and hosts weddings, conferences and other celebrations.