The dominant family in the 16th/17th century, the Knights of Obentraut – a family branch of the famous German cavalry general from Heddesheim on the Nahe – owned a total of about 60 acres of land (15.3 hectares) in Großwinternheim, including a mill operation on the Selz ("Eulenmühle").
The property located in the village encompassed an area of about 8 acres, stretching from the noticeably high garden of house No. 3 to the "Freier Platz" and adjacent to the well-preserved section of the fortification wall of the northern "Effengrabens." The former tithe barn is part of the Renaissance-era building complex. An elegant wavy gable and a robustly decorated double-aisled entrance area characterize the main building.
No less characteristic of its nobility, the estate at the corner of Obentrautstraße/Freier Platz features a stair tower crowned with an Italian-style cupola. Above the large entrance gate beside the raised stepped gable, coats of arms and a keystone – H.M.V.O. 1609 – mark the history of its noble owner. The right residential wing of the courtyard is adorned with a weathered sandstone portal in the elaborate style of Tuscan Renaissance.
Until their final displacement by Palatine authority, the Obentrauts presided over the village council and thus held a permanent seat in the court of Ingelheimer Grund, known as the Oberhof.
