The Noor mansion or castle (Noors slott) is mentioned in manuscripts for the first time in 1311. In the 16th century, the crown owned the estate and then, until the 1680s, ownership was held by the Tott, Stöör and Månesköld families. The mansion was confiscated as part of the reduction by King Charles XI in 1686, whereafter it was used as a royal hunting lodge. In 1689 King Charles XI sold the mansion to his adviser Count Nils Gyldenstolpe. He rebuilt the mansion in Swedish Carolean Style, the style of fashion in Sweden during the period of the two Carolean kings, based of drawings by Jean de la Vallée. Between 1761 and 1918 Noor mansion was owned by members of the noble Hermelin family.
Nobel laureate Verner von Heidenstam wrote his historical novel The Caroleans (Karolinerna) at Noor mansion in 1897, during a spell of one year at the mansion to benefit from its late 17th Century atmosphere.
Noor mansion was renovated 1996-97 and is now a privately owned Conference Centre.
References:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.