debate continues about whether the current structure should be razed and replaced with a reconstruction of Gropius’s house. But even some proponents of modernism are inclined to leave the GDR-era home standing as an architectural testament to the social values of its time. In fact, the Bauhaus buildings are just one stage in Dessau’s architectural continuum, which ranges from utilitarian 19th-century red-brick factories to nondescript concrete apartment buildings typical of the GDR era.
Several Bauhaus-associated structures cluster in the former village of Törten on the south side of the city. The best-known is the Törten Estate, 314 semi-detached homes commissioned by the city to be sold to low-income workers. The houses, designed by Gropius, were built in three stages between 1926 and 1928. Initially 796 square feet each, they shrank in the second phase to 759 square feet, and finally to 614 square feet. For maximum efficiency, the homes were prefabricated on the spot, with sand and gravel from the site used to make slag-concrete hollow bricks and joists. The construction elements passed along a conveyor belt for installation, where they were fitted with prefabricated steel-frame windows. By the third phase, workers could erect an entire house, complete with interior plastering, in six hours.
Signature Bauhaus elements such as the steel-framed windows placed high on the walls proved unpopular, and few of the Törten homes have retained their original spare lines. One house from the third phase is now occupied by the Moses Mendelssohn Center, dedicated to the Dessau-born 18th-century philosopher.
(SIDEBAR)
Museums and Sights
Bauhaus Building
Gropiusallee 38
+49 340 650 82 51
www.bauhaus-dessau.de
A permanent exhibition from the Bauhaus archives, as well as guided tours of the campus.
Masters’ Houses
Ebertallee 63, 65/67 and 69/71
+49 340 650 82 51
Open to visitors. The Kurt Weill Center, in the Feininger House, has an exhibition on the Dessau-born composer, who collaborated with Bertolt Brecht on the The Threepenny Opera.
Steel House
Sudstrasse 5
+49 340 858 14 20
Departure point for tours of the Törten Estate and the Housing with Balcony Access. Hosts exhibit on the design and construction of the estate.
Moses Mendelssohn Center
Mittelring 38
+49 340 850 11 99
An example of the third building phase in the Törten Estate.
Employment Office
August-Bebel-Platz 16
Open during business hours.
Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt)
Wörlitzer Platz 1
+49 340 2103 0
Limited access during business hours.
Hugo Junkers Technical Museum
Kühnauer Strasse 161a
+49 340 661 19 82
www.technikmuseum-dessau.de
On the site of the last Junkers aircraft plant, this industrial museum focuses on inventor Hugo Junkers, pioneer of mechanical engineering and aviation. One section deals with his innovative metal house and furniture collaboration with Marcel Breuer.
Bauhaus Museum
Theaterplatz, Weimar
+49 364 354 59 61
www.kunstfreunde-weimar.de/kusa/index.php
This musem, dedicated to the 1919–25 Weimar Bauhaus period, is 100 miles southwest of Dessau.
Dining and Accommodations
Kornhaus Restaurant
Kornhausstrasse 146
+49 340 640 410
Bauhaus Klub
Bauhaus Building
Gropiusallee 38
+49 340 650 84 44
www.klubimbauhaus.de
Bauhaus Studio Building
Gropiusallee 38
+49 340 650 83 18
Renovated, historically authentic rooms with shared bathrooms are available at modest rates. Book well in advance.
Shopping
Bauart Galerie
Gropiusallee 81
+49 340 661 02 46
www.galerie-bauart.de
Bauhaus-era design.
The Bauhaus Bookshop
Gropiusallee 38
+49 340 650 84 30
Books, posters and reproductions of tableware by Bauhaus artists and designers.
Bauhaus in the 21st Century
The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation uses the original campus as a base for its programs, which include an interdisciplinary post-graduate course on urban environmental issues for architects, designers, artists and urban planners.
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