Stuttgart: Mies van der Rohe

1927

Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Am Weissenhof 14-20, Stuttgart, Germany

Weissenhof Estate

The Weissenhof Estate was built in 1927 as part of the building exhibition “Die Wohnung”, organized by the Deutscher Werkbund and financed by the city of Stuttgart.

During the exhibition, the 33 realized houses could be viewed from the outside and inside. Afterwards, they were rented out by the city.

Model Houses

Seventeen international architects under the artistic direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, presented their innovative designs for modern, healthy, affordable and functional living.

In addition to the model houses in the Weissenhof Estate, there were three other exhibitions on modern building worldwide, interior design and new building materials and constructions.

Within just four months, 500,000 visitors came to see the exhibition, which had a worldwide resonance.

Avantgarde

The Weissenhof Estate showed the then current development of architecture and housing.

A formal coherence was achieved through the avant-garde architectural views of the contributing architects and the specification of flat roofs.

Residential Complex Mies van der Rohe

The four-story apartment block, designed by Mies van der Rohe, contains twenty-four apartments ranging in size from 48 to 80 square meters of living space.

The construction was done as iron framework with brick infills.

Only staircases, kitchens and bathrooms are unalterable.

All other areas can be used flexibly through non-load-bearing interior walls made of pumice boards or plywood panels.

1933 to 1945

During the National Socialist dictatorship, the housing estate was threatened with demolition and was sold to the German Reich for this purpose.

However, the outbreak of the war prevented the demolition plans.

As a counter design, the Kochenhofsiedlung was built within sight of the Weissenhof by representatives of the Stuttgart School.

With the Ziegelklinge estate (1927-1928), the Inselsiedlung (1929-1930) and the Wallmersiedlung (1929-1931), three further Neues Bauen estates had previously been built in Stuttgart.

During the Second World War, an anti-aircraft position was established below the Weißenhofsiedlung. Parts of the settlement were destroyed during the air raids on Stuttgart.

After 1945

Following the war, some only slightly damaged buildings were demolished, while others were severely altered by gable roof additions.

In 1958, the settlement was listed as a historical monument.

Renovation of the remaining buildings took place in the 1980s.

Le Corbusier World Heritage

The city Stuttgart acquired the semi-detached house by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret belonging to the estate from the federal government in 2002.

On October 25, 2006, the Weissenhof Museum with historical documents and architectural models was opened in the building after three years of faithful restoration.

In July 2016, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the Citröhan House as one of a total of 17 partial sites under the designation The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier – An Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement.

Weissenhofsiedlung today

In January 2019, Stuttgarter Wohnungs- und Städtebaugesellschaft mbH (SWSG) took over the Weissenhofsiedlung from the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BImA).

A total of 37 buildings with 87 apartments are now in municipal hands.