Stuchowo Palace

Stuchowo Palace in Stuchowo, Poland, is a late 19th-century eclectic manor house erected for the German von Plötz noble family. The main construction phase took place between 1880 and 1888, producing the building whose form defines the estate today. The site mattered locally as the seat of a landed family whose tenure at Stuchowo stretched back to the end of the 15th century, and whose estate and park became notable features of the surrounding countryside.

From the late 1400s the property belonged to the von Plötz family. Over the 17th to 19th centuries successive family members held the manor, including Caspar von Plötz and his son Joachim Christoph, who died in 1708, and Joachim’s sons Balthasar Heinrich (died 1761) and Michael Christoph (died 1765). Later family holders included Kasper Henning, Joachim Heinrich (died 1775), Carl Gustav (born 1766), Carl Heinrich von Plötz, Friedrich Wilhelm and another Carl Heinrich von Plötz born in 1831.

In the 19th century the family established a fideikommiss, a legal entail intended to keep the estate intact within the family. Leo von Ploetz (1848–1915) served as a cavalry captain and was a Knight of the Order of Saint John; by 1914 the entail was identified with his name and Paul von Ploetz was also associated with the family foundation. The present main house was built during Leo Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Plötz’s ownership, replacing or supplementing earlier buildings on the site.

During the late 1930s the manor and related holdings were extensive. Around 1939 the Stuchowo estate comprised roughly 778 hectares, while the nearby Rittergut Staarz held about 805 hectares. Henning von Ploetz (1881–1952) is cited as owner at that time, with estate manager Paul Pöhlmann in charge of daily affairs. The von Plötz family retained possession of Stuchowo at least until 1942 and genealogical accounts place formal expropriation in 1945. After the mid-20th century the estate entered a new phase of civic use; since the 1960s the main building has served as a primary school, and the south wing accommodates a public library, an exhibition space, and the municipal tourist office. Historically the estate lay within the Cammin district of the Province of Pomerania; today it is administratively in the municipality of Świerzno in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.