The name of Kapfenburg Palace still reveals the original function of the complex today. The exposed location on a rounded mountain peak on the edge of the "Härtsfeld" plateau, from which one has a far-reaching view into the surrounding country, points to the medieval well-fortified character of the complex. Today's visitors also still recognize the old structures of a former castle in the irregular ground plan of the building complex.
Under Commander Johann Eustach von Westernach (1590-1627) the modern claim to representation of the Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden) was expressed in the erection of a new building on the Kapfenburg. With its decorated representation facade in the East, the stepped gable, the round towers with Italian domed roofs and the Hall of Knights (Rittersaal) in the interior, the Westernach Building (Westernachbau), named after its builder, transformed the Kapfenburg into a representative Renaissance residential palace.
In the early 18th century Commander Karl Heinrich Freiherr von Hornstein had the Hohenlohe Building (Hohenlohebau) completely redesigned. The building torn down to the foundation walls was rebuilt as a new three-story building. Elaborate staircases and a baroque gable facing the valley side, which rises up concavely, characterize this building from the late Baroque period.
Following extensive remodeling the Westernach Building, which had been appointed with valuable stucco ceilings in the enlarged rooms on both upper floors, also permitted modern representation. With a uniform expression of forms in roofs, gables, cornices and building walls, the architect Franz Keller combined all new and remodeled buildings to produce a baroque palace complex.