Guesthouse Ursulinenhof

The former guesthouse at the Willy-Brandt-Platz has a very long history. The earliest known owner of the property, which originally stretched to the Lühlingsgasse, was the Unkel Speensetzer family in the 16th century. From 1694 onwards, the building was owned by the convent of the Ursuline sisters of Cologne. The nuns had the property built in 1732 as the seat of administration for their winery. After the secularization in 1803 the Cologne family of Philipp von Monschaw bought the building as their residence. In the middle of the 19th century Johann Josef Clasen reconstructed the building as a guesthouse with a large hall for 150 people. He ran the first post office in Unkel from 1846 onwards. Christian Stuch senior upgraded the guesthouse to „Hotel and Restaurant Stuch“ in the 20th century. The social life of Unkel took place there as well as in the „winemakers association on the market“. At that time the beautiful half-timber was hidden behind a layer of plaster. The Wallmeyer couple continued the hotel-restaurant under the name „Unkeler Hof“ during the interwar period. In 1949 the great hall was turned into a cinema – named

„Freiligrath-Lichtspiele“, which existed till 1971. The „Unkeler Hof“ was one of the most popular inns during the 1960s and 70s. As the rush ebbed away the Knapheide couple closed down the inn and sold it to a Turkish family.