Deuringschlössle Bregenz Oberstadt

Deuringschlössle (Deuring Castle)

The Deuringschlössle (also Deuringschlößle) is a former manor house in the upper town of Bregenz.

The core of the three-storey manor house dates from the 14th/15th century and is located in the south-west corner of Bregenz's upper town at a distance from the town wall. In 1539 the manor house belonged to Hans von Wolfurt. In 1647 it was damaged by the Swedes during the capture of Bregenz. Johann Albert von Deuring acquired the manor house in 1660 and had it considerably enlarged by 1702 by building up the free area between the manor house and the town wall. The turret at the southwest corner of the city wall was raised, provided with an onion dome and included in the construction. In 1698, an extension was added to the south-east side and in 1702 the new "Torkel" was built to the east. It is possible that Michael and Johann Georg Kuen were the main architects of this structural alteration. The Deuring family were rich timber merchants from Bregenz who were raised to the knightly nobility in 1621.

The Deuringschlössle remained in the family's possession until 1801. The following owners were the bailiff and district captain Johann Jakob von Vicari and, twenty years later, the imperial and royal rentmaster Christoph Anton Kayser, who set up the rent office here. After his death, the building was inherited by the Swiss architect Johann Anton von Tscharner-Merhart, who had the interior remodelled in 1915 in the style of historicism. In 1927, the upper floor of the former Torkel was converted into an artist's studio, the so-called Rittersaal. From 1989 to 2015, the Deuringschlössle was used as a gourmet hotel.