Schoeller family

The Schoeller family is a German noble family. Originally from the Rhineland, the family has retained long-held and extensive business holdings throughout Europe for many generations.

History

While most members of the family initially worked as Reidemeister in the Eifel, beginning in the 18th century, they became founders, shareholders and managers of numerous companies in the textile, paper, sugar and steel industries as well as in packaging technology. They also formed Schoellerbank, a trading and banking house in Vienna which was founded initially as a wholesaler in 1833. They were also involved in the coal mining industry, in the construction and railway industry, in breweries and with other banking and trading houses. In addition to their original home towns of Schleiden, Gemünd and Hellenthal in the Eifel, their companies were primarily located in the Düren-Jülich area, the towns of Eitorf, Osnabrück as well as Wrocław, Edelény, Prague, Brno, Zurich, Bregenz, Ternitz, Berndorf, Vienna and other locations worldwide.
A large number of family members are still active in public or political offices, holding appointments as city councillors, as members of the Prussian House of Representatives or the House of Lords of the Imperial Council of Austria, as board members in chambers of commerce and industry, as honorary consuls, or as members of numerous supervisory and administrative boards as well as company boards.
Several members of the "Brno" and "Vienna branches" were elevated to the hereditary Austrian nobility in 1863 with the title of Knight, and Sir Paul Eduard von Schoeller was elevated to the British nobility as Knight Bachelor. However, in 1919, all living family members and their descendants were required to remove the additions Ritter and von from their names if they had accepted citizenship in the Republic of Austria, due to the Law on the Abolition of Nobility of April 1919.

Prominent members

Alexander von Schoeller, mining industrialist and banker in Berndorf, Ternitz and Vienna, lifelong member of the Austrian House of Lords, ennobled in 1863
, banker and financier of the Rhenish-Westphalian heavy industry, Privy Councillor of the Sea
, paper manufacturer and patron
, née Schoeller, donor in Düren and founder of the Schenkel-Schoeller welfare institution
, paper manufacturer in Düren, co-founder of paper factories in Neu Kaliß, Offingen and Gernsbach, co-founder of the Düren Railway
, paper manufacturer at Burg Gretesch, specialist for photographic paper
Franz Jochen Schoeller, former Ambassador
, German paper manufacturer and President of the Osnabrück Chamber of Industry and Commerce
, major industrialist and economic functionary in Brno, German consul for Moravia and Silesia and consular agent for the US
, mining industrialist, major entrepreneur and banker in Berndorf, Ternitz and Vienna
Heinrich August Schoeller, paper manufacturer at Schoellershammer
Heinrich August Schoeller, Düren industrialist
Hubertus Schoeller, gallery owner in Düsseldorf and art donor in Düren
, cloth and carpet manufacturer, member of the Prussian Parliament, Privy Councillor of Commerce
Leopold Schoeller, major industrialist in Breslau, co-initiator of the Oder-Spree Canal, member of the Free Conservative Party in the Prussian House of Representatives
, sugar manufacturer and ethnologist
Sir Paul Eduard von Schoeller, mining industrialist in Ternitz and Vienna, lifelong member of the Austrian House of Lords, British Consul General in Vienna, 1912 British Knight Bachelor, patron of the arts
Philipp Schöller, Prussian mayor of Düsseldorf
Philipp von Schoeller, major entrepreneur, Austrian champion in show jumping, representative of Austria from 1977 to 2000 and subsequently honorary member of the International Olympic Committee
, major industrialist of the Bohemian sugar industry
, major industrialist in the cloth and sugar industry in Brno, Prague and Vienna, member of the Moravian Diet, ennobled in 1863
Philipp Wilhelm von Schoeller, major industrialist and banker in Vienna, president of the Vienna Camera Club, lifelong member of the Austrian House of Lords
Richard von Schoeller, major industrialist of the Bohemian sugar industry and mining industrialist in Ternitz and Berndorf
, major industrialist in the sugar industry in Moravia and Lower Austria, received transfer of nobility from his cousin Richard in 1911
Rudolf Schoeller, Swiss racing driver
, major entrepreneur and head of the Schoeller worsted factories in Bregenz and Zurich, among others; member of the Old Liberals in the Prussian House of Representatives; German consul for Switzerland
Walter Schoeller, General Director of the Swiss family business Schoeller Switzerland, multiple Swiss national champion in football, rowing, tennis and hockey, European champion in coxed fours and eights, President and Honorary President of the Grasshoppers Club Zurich
, professor of medicinal chemistry in Freiburg im Breisgau, head of laboratory in Berlin

Family seats

The family owned a number of notable castles, palaces and prominent buildings, including:

Name '	Location	Description	Image
Birgel Castle '	Birgel, Germany	In 1840, Heinrich Leopold Schoeller acquired the 13th century moated castle, which he completely renovated, expanded and built a park for. His grandson, Max Schoeller, sold it to Baron von Diergardt in 1913. The complex was converted into a primary school in 1958.
Villa Schoeller	Wrocław, Poland	The villa was built in 1905 by Leopold's descendants who worked in Wrocław. Located in the Borek district, the family owned it until their expulsion in 1945. Since 2010, the villa has been used as a 5-star hotel.
Stenitz Castle '	Prague, Czech Republic	In 1849, Alexander von Schoeller acquired the castle from the estate of Aloisia, Countess Desfours, also buying the Čakovice and Miškovice estates. The Schoeller family owned the castle for almost a hundred years until they were expropriated in 1945 as a result of the Beneš decrees.
Lewenz Castle '	Levice, Slovakia	In 1867, Alexander von Schoeller acquired the castle from the Esterházy family as a family seat. Like the Levice estate itself, the castle remained in the family until 1945.
Ratschitz Castle '	Račice, Czech Republic	In 1894, Sir Paul Eduard von Schoeller, acquired the castle from Baron von Palm. The castle was also expropriated in 1945.
Corbelli-Schoeller Palace '	Vienna, Austria	In, Sir Paul Eduard von Schoeller acquired the 17th-century baroque palace, which he had extensively remodelded. As he died unmarried and without issue, he left it to his nephew, and adopted son, Gustav Neufeldt-Schoeller, for whom he managed the transfer his title of nobility in 1911.
Schoeller Palace '	Brno, Czech Republic	The palace was built in 1868 by Gustav Adolph von Schoeller as a family home and office in Brno. Designed by architect Joseph Arnold, it was built on the site of a demolished chapel. The palace was also expropriated in 1945.
Villa Benker-Schoellerhof '	Offingen, Germany	The villa was acquired by Felix Heinrich Schoeller during his time in Offingen. His grandson, Felix Heribert Schoeller, bought the Gneven estate near Schwerin in 1925, but sold it two years later to his paper factory in Neu Kaliß. In 1945, he bought a 211 hectare area of land near Osnabrück, where he had a manor house and farm built, now called the "Schoellerhof". Schoellerhof remained in the family until 1973, and was converted into an independent foundation by the heirs of the subsequent owners in 2006.
Hardturm	Zurich, Switzerland	After Rudolf Wilhelm Schoeller moved his factory from Wrocław to Zurich in 1865, he acquired the area around the Hardturm in Zurich as a new company site and, in 1882, the tower itself as a residence and meeting room. From 1979 onwards, the entire property was incorporated into the real estate and management company "Hardturm AG", which is part of the Schoeller Spinning Group.
Schoellergut	Zurich, Switzerland	In 1883, Arthur Schoeller-Ziesing bought the villa and observatory from the naturalist Eduard Kann in the Enge district. In 1934, his son, Friedrich Arthur Schoeller, president of the Swiss Federal Bank, had the villa demolished and the architect Richard von Muralt had the Villa Schoeller built, which remains standing today. The villa and its outbuildings are now used by the Freudenberg and Enge cantonal schools.
Villa Liebenstein	Bregenz, Austria	In, Arthur Friedrich Schoeller acquired the villa from Ferdinand Brettauer. His son, Rudolf Schoeller, remodeled and expanded the associated park before selling it to Schoeller & Co. in 1953. Since 1982, the villa has belonged to the city of Bregenz, which set up the municipal music school there.
Villa Schoeller	Hirschwang an der Rax, Austria	In 1905, the villa was rebuilt for Richard von Schoeller, with designs by Egon von Leutzendorf. Schoeller, who had previously taken over Hirschwang's iron plant, sold the entire iron plant to Neusiedler in 1920. They continued the plant's paper and cardboard production and used the villa to house workers' families.