Schloss Lehenhof, Scheibbs

Schloss Lehenhof stands on a terrace above the Erlauf valley in the small hamlet of Hochbruck, near the town of Scheibbs in Lower Austria. The building, also called Villa Almasy, was constructed between 1835 and 1840 by Count Almásy as a summer residence. Later it belonged to physicist Albert von Ettingshausen, who had the façade remodelled in a neoclassical style. From 1925 to 1939 the estate was leased to furniture manufacturer Victor Thonet, who created a music room there. The villa has been protected as a historic monument since the 19th century.

The house is worth visiting for the art and culture it once held. The music room displayed Josef Maria Auchentaller’s Pastorale cycle, eight large oil paintings that were moved several times before settling in Schloss Lehenhof. The library was furnished with pieces designed by Marcel Kammerer, a pupil of Otto Wagner, for a London exhibition in 1906. The garden once featured a bronze bust by Peter Breithut, made in Paris in 1913. Prominent guests included pianist Wilhelm Backhaus in 1932 and violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, who gave concerts there.

Visitors today find a three-winged building arranged in a horseshoe shape, with a main façade nine windows wide and a central neoclassical pediment. The entrance on the courtyard side is marked by a basket-arched portal with a mask keystone. Inside, high windows with semi-circular fanlights are separated by double pilasters, and three reliefs of playing and musing putti sit above the first-floor windows. The former music room, once hung with Auchentaller’s paintings, looks out over the valley. The surrounding grounds include a park, greenhouses, and sports facilities, with a flight of steps leading to a fountain basin in front of the house.