Haus Steinhausen

Haus Steinhausen stands in Dortmund's Holzen district, a former moated castle first documented in the fifteenth century. It ranked as the smallest of the knight's seats in the Reichshof Westhofen. Its setting carried weight all the same: old roads such as the Helweg crossed here, tying whole regions together.

In February 1672, during the Franco-Dutch War, French soldiers under Marshal Turenne crossed the frozen moat and plundered the castle. Rebuilding began around 1700, and the property later passed to the noble Blankennagel family. At its height the estate held a two-storey residential tower from 1628, alongside a gatehouse and an economic building from 1700. A brewery and a grain mill stood nearby, and fishing rights on the Ruhr added to the yield. The operation fed itself, selling surplus grain and livestock at nearby markets.

The medieval castle has not survived above ground, so the buildings there today are of later origin. Renovations in the 1990s ended when fire destroyed the manor house in 1999, and flames struck again in June 2015. The site stays protected all the same, entered in Dortmund's heritage list as both a building and an archaeological monument.