Bettine von Arnim's daughters, Armgart and Maximiliane, must have felt like fairytale princesses in a magical kingdom when they were allowed to live in the country residence of their uncle Georg Brentano in Rödelheim from 1829 to 1834.
"But the most poetical of all was the picturesque Petrihaus, where uncle lived and also slept quite alone...", is how Maximiliane described Petrihaus near to the main building. The merchant banker Georg Brentano purchased Petrihaus in 1819 from the Rödelheim baker Johannes Petri and had it furnished as his personal retreat. The captivating beauty of the house also impressed Clemens Brentano, who extolled its elegance in a letter to his brother in the year 1826.
At the end of the 20. century little remains of its erstwhile fairytale magnificence. Hardly any visitor to the park imagines that the decaying Petrihaus is Frankfurt's last remaining specimen of the "Swiss" architectural style highly popular during the Romantic period.
To bring back history's grandeur for us and our children, an initiative in 1998 by Dr Wilhelm Bender, Chairman of Fraport AG, together with inhabitants of Rödelheim, committed citizens and experts from culture and business gave rise to the "Support Association Petrihaus". In mutual effort the Association managed to completely restore Petrihaus, give it back its soul and return its former beauty.