Puchenau Castle and the “Figurella Family”

Puchenau Palace towers majestically above the Danube and elegantly gives the roaring traffic the cold shoulder. In its 330-year history, the property has experienced a lot of history and several changes of ownership peppered with prominent names.

Things got moving again last year. Because Patrizia Ausserwöger (31), the granddaughter of the former Figurella boss Rosa Cech, is now not only the sole mistress of the management and the rental of 6350 square meters of floor space in the castle. The managing director of Businesspark Schloss Puchenau GmbH also owns 30 percent of the property.

Her father Rainer Lehner, who has owned the castle since 2009, owns 60 percent. Now he has retired to an authorized officer and development tasks. Ten percent belong to his younger daughter Viktoria Lehner, born in 1993. Lehner joined in 2009 with partner Ernst Seyr and a Swiss pension fund.

They were paid long ago, Puchenau Castle is in the hands of his family. It should stay that way, because there will be no sales. “Puchenau Castle is something for generations,” says Rainer Lehner.

A special castle

“A castle like this is something special,” says Patrizia Ausserwöger. The 31-year-old has a master’s degree in economics and a degree in business education under her belt, as well as all the courses you need for real estate management, leasing and real estate brokerage. The mother of the five-year-old twins Matthias and Sophia has been in the management of Schloss Puchenau since 2015.

Today Puchenau Castle is a gem and almost fully rented. That was not always so. When Lehner and his partners bought the real estate company Amisola owned by Billa founder Karl Wlaschek in 2009, it wasn’t just the earnings situation that looked bleak. Two huge floors were empty. The IT company Fabasoft, which built its own building in Linz on the Donaulände, had rented there.

Then the sleeves were rolled up. Now 23 instead of 18 apartments on the top floor radiate castle flair. 15 smaller offices and 16 large commercial areas up to an orthopedic center and a beauty ordination with an operating room use the modern character.

Event location on the ground floor

In the wedding hall rented by the municipality of Puchenau, around 60 couples say yes every year. The Puchenau art dealer Bernhard Fleischanderl moved into the space of Blumen Lederleitner (who moved to Linz) with his gallery “Artosphere”.

The remaining square meters on the ground floor with historic vault and column charm will be converted into an event location by spring 2024. Because not only after weddings should be celebrated here.

The castle was not always so neatly renovated and equipped with lifts and district heating. Before Amisola, the master of the house was the brick manufacturer Karl Leitl, who also had the headquarters of his Bauhütte Leitl company here from 1973.

Karl Leitl was also the lord of the castle

At that time, the castle was also a place of pilgrimage for university delegations. Because Karl Leitl is considered a pioneer of employee participation, which aroused scientific interest. Leitl was bought in 1961 by the Swiss Benno Dubler. He was also known for the golf course opposite, which had to move to St. Florian because of the construction of the garden city.

Under Karl Leitl, Puchenau Castle also housed a gourmet restaurant from 1979 to 1983. It was operated by Max Eidlhuber, known from the Donauhof in Ottensheim. Many a noble marriage ceremony took place in the castle. The most prominent was probably that of Markus Salvator Habsburg-Lorraine, the head of the Bad Ischl imperial villa, with his Hildegard (from Alkoven).

The massive, defiant Puchenau Castle has been there since the 1680s. It was built by Count Ernst Christoph Schallenberg (the name is also known through descendants of Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg). Already in 1693 it went to Baron Augustin von Ehrhard. Then names like Khueffstein, Thürheim and Starhemberg followed, until 1920, when the Dubler family took over and owned it for 41 years, until the Leitls came.

Puchenau Castle is of course a listed building. In the courtyard, designations such as Freiherren, Kämmerer and Damenstiege help with orientation. But only the core is really historical. A whole wing was added by Karl Leitl in 1970.

The name of Schallenberg still haunts Puchenau Castle. This in the form of a commemorative plaque that holds something out of the ordinary. As was the fashion in the 17th and 18th centuries, names were translated into Italian. Schallenberg became “Ecomonte”, following the example of the baroque painter Martin Hohenberg, who called himself “Martino Altomonte”.

The Ecomonte tablet was handed over to Lehner, the new owner since 2009, with the stipulation that it was never allowed to leave the castle; not even in the event of a sale. “I wouldn’t dream of it,” says Rainer Lehner. Puchenau Castle will bring joy and income to many generations of his family.