It was completed in only two years (1882–84) on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town on the east bank of the Rhine, south of the city of Bonn.

[1] The initial plans for the building were drawn up by the Düsseldorf architects, Bernhard Tüshaus and Leo von Abbema with construction commencing in 1882.

One of his nephews, Jacob Hubert Biesenbach, a Bonn lawyer, realised the potential of the building as a tourist attraction and bought out the other legatees for 390,000 Marks.

Post-war, the castle became the property of the State of North-Rhine, Westphalia, who rented it out to the Federal Railways as a training facility until they moved to dedicated premises in Wuppertal in 1959.

It was purchased, in 1971, by a local textile merchant, Paul Spinat, who carried out major restorations and used it for entertaining and also opened for visitors.

The restoration was greatly helped by the existence of a number of postcards and other illustrations commissioned by Jacob Biesenbach for his original tourism project at the beginning of the 20th century.