Hückeswagen Castle

2022-2025

The castle town of Hückeswagen is located in the north of the Oberberg district (OBK) and borders the urban centres of the Bergisches Land region to the west. The town centre of Hückeswagen offers a special insight into Bergisch building culture with its historically significant castle and an almost unique ensemble of half-timbered houses in the old town as well as the various witnesses of industrial culture-related forms of housing in the town centre. The castle is currently used exclusively as an administrative centre.

Although the castle is a prestigious address for the city administration, the use of a historic building as a town hall presents the administration with challenges (e.g. fire protection, accessibility) and the potential of the castle remains largely unutilised. Restructuring the administrative organisation could open up the castle; an alternative usage concept could create an urban space with a high quality of life for a functioning social community.

As a result of the process to date, the city administration has decided to intensively pursue the following uses. Multifunctional rooms (seminars, education, counselling, events, club life), co-working spaces, some permanent offices for the administration, catering and a meeting point for citizens and tourist information, and outdoor catering on the Schlossplatz square. In addition, summer uses such as concerts and open-air cinema are also conceivable in connection with the catering facilities and the castle hall. The wing of the building with the local history museum and council chamber will be converted into a multifunctional, large event hall – known here as the castle hall. To this end, the intermediate level above the ground floor (today’s council chamber) will be removed and the former church room will be restored to its former proportions. The entire castle is to have barrier-free access in future.