Leipzig: Europahaus

1928 – 1930

Architect: Otto Paul Burghardt

Augustusplatz 7, Leipzig, Germany

The nine-story cubic office building consists of a 13-story, 56-meter-high central building and two seven-story wing buildings.

The reinforced concrete skeleton building’s façade is clad with shell limestone panels.

Strong piers leading up to the roof area with an acute-angled profile emphasize the building’s verticality.

Europahaus

Built between 1928 and 1930, the Europahaus was Leipzig’s second high-rise building after the Kroch High Rise. Architect Otto Paul Burghardt designed it.

In May 1928, Burghardt revised his initial design, which featured a taller tower in an axial corner position, due to demands from the Saxon Ministry of the Interior.

As a result, the façade of the office and commercial building was given a significantly more simplified form, featuring a vertical structure running between the window openings.

Burghardt dispensed with any decoration, emphasizing only the vertical lines of the building.

The revision was completed in July 1928. The shell was finished in November 1929, and most of the rooms were available for use starting January 1, 1930.

Construction

At the time of its construction, the high-rise building had a roof garden restaurant in the center.

From the beginning, the Europahaus was not intended to stand alone. It was designed as an integral part of an urban development concept and as a signal building of the future Ringcity.

Hubert Ritter

The first general development plan of the city of Leipzig, adopted in 1929 by City Architect Hubert Ritter, envisioned developing the Ringstrasse around the historic center into a Ring City, emphasizing prominent points with high-rise buildings.

During his six-year tenure as the City of Leipzig’s municipal architect from 1924 to 1930, Ritter left a lasting mark on urban planning.

Under his leadership, buildings such as the Grassimuseum, the Grossmarkthalle (wholesale market hall), the planetarium at the zoo (which was destroyed in the war), and several schools and hospitals, including Sankt Elisabeth in Connewitz were built.

With the construction of the Rundling housing estate in Lößnig and the development in Faradaystraße, Ritter set urban planning accents.

His general development plan established a framework for the city’s unregulated development for the first time.

According to the plan, the historic city center of Leipzig was to be preserved, and administrative and commercial buildings were to be constructed along the promenade surrounding the city center. This concept is still visible today.

Restoration and current use

During the GDR era, the Europahaus served as the headquarters for the district administration of the GDR’s state insurance company.

The arcades on the first floor and the altered end of the building were constructed during the 1965 redesign.

From 1998 to 1999, the building underwent a complete renovation. The windows were replaced, and the façade was repaired.

Since 2014, Stadtwerke Leipzig has had its headquarters in the Europahaus.