During a stop in Stuttgart on the way to Tübingen, we couldn’t resist a detour to take a Weissenhof Estate guided tour. This 1920s prototype housing estate belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage and is a must-see for fans of modern architecture. The Weissenhof Estate is a modernist housing development built in 1927. It features 21 buildings designed by notable architects like Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. To be precise, only one building is a UNESCO site as part of the multinational site “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement“. But the avantgarde housing architecture of the whole estate is worth seeing.
Having explored Corbusier’s works in Switzerland, we were eager to see another gem from his legacy. In this post, we’ll share what to see at the Weissenhof Estate, how much time to plan for your visit, and what to expect from a Weissenhof Estate guided tour.
Who built the Weissenhof Estate?
The Weissenhof Estate was part of an exhibition by the Deutscher Werkbund, a German association of architects, designers, and industrialists. For the first time these different professionals came together aiming to elevate the quality and international reputation of German products.
Rapid industrialization characterized Germany in the early 20th century. This induced not only urbanisation, but also high rents and bad hygienic conditions in the living quarters. For instance, cheap dwellings for workers often lacked running water or toilets. Progressive planners wanted to address the need to improve the living conditions for many. There was also a growing concern about the loss of craftmanship and the alienation of workers in mass production. The Deutscher Werkbund fostered collaborations between artists, architects, and industrialists, to create well-designed, functional products, houses, and flats.
A small, guided tour
It’s a steady ten-minute walk uphill to the Weissenhof Estate Museum. We arrive just in time for the regular 3 PM Weissenhof Estate guided tour. Housed in the one building which was designed by Le Corbusier, the museum’s clean, straight lines immediately catch our eye. Our group is small – just the two of us and another group of three. The young woman from Berlin is apparently visiting her parents in Stuttgart. While the daughter is keen on architecture, Mom and Dad seem content enjoying family time, but they do follow the tour with interest.
Our guide, Amanda, is an art historian. For years, she has actively contributed to the preservation of the Weissenhof Estate through her involvement with the “Friends of the Weissenhof Estate,” an association dedicated to its upkeep since 1977. Their efforts led to the estate’s UNESCO World Heritage nomination. A small museum was established in 1988, and in 2006, it finally moved to the famous Le Corbusier house after the last tenant moved out.
Short History of the Weissenhof Estate
We begin our Weissenhof Estate guided tour at the large model of the Weissenhof Estate in the museum, where Amanda provides a brief history.
Planning for the Werkbund exhibition started in 1925 under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as a coordinator. The goal was creating prototype residential buildings as inspirations for affordable, functional housing. However, the exhibition planners decided to keep the prototype houses as usable housing rather than demolishing them afterwards.
Despite initial challenges and resistance from the conservative city council, 17 architects from five countries were selected. The final selection included a late addition, the Swiss-French avant-garde architect Le Corbusier. Construction began in April 1927, and within a few months, 21 innovative buildings were completed, showcasing new standards in design and functionality. With the short deadline, the Werkbund aimed to demonstrate that builders could construct modern, functional living spaces quickly and affordably. One means to achieve this was by using, for example, prefabricated elements. The prototype flats should be ideal living spaces for the contemporary working individual. The exhibition was a great success with a smashing 500,000 visitors.
The challenges and legacy of the Weissenhof estate
After the Weissenhof Estate’s official exhibition came to a close, renting out the flats proved to be quite challenging. The project, despite its groundbreaking design, faced significant opposition. Conservative critics condemned it as poorly executed and amateurish. The fictional specifications that each architect received for their contributions also complicated the process. These specified a precise model family for which each home was intended. For example, one model was designed for a “widow with five children and artistic occupation” – which in the 1920s meant a young war widow struggling to support her family with handicrafts. In the end it proved not so easy to find prospective tenants to match these fictions in reals life.
The estate’s modernist design also fell out of favour with the Nazis, who came to power in 1933. The Nazis viewed the flat roofs as un-German and derisively compared the buildings to an “Arab village” or a “suburb of Jerusalem”. In fact, we even pass a showcase in the museum displaying postcards with the Weissenhof Estate buildings in the background and camels grazing in front. By 1938, there even were plans to demolish the estate, but World War II interfered. However, in 1944, bombs struck the estate destroying ten buildings, including two designed by Gropius and two by Max Taut, the brother of the famous Bruno Taut.
Exploring the Le Corbusier House
The only building we can tour from the inside during our Weissenhof Estate guided tour is the Le Corbusier House. Le Corbusier, whose real name was Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, is the focus of attention and research on the site. Our guide Amanda casually shortens the artist’s name to “Corbu,” just as she refers to Mies van der Rohe simply as “Mies,” which is rather charming. Originally designed as a duplex, the house was later combined into a single-family home for a larger family. Notably this house is using a concrete construction, a pioneering choice of material in the 1920s.
Inside, we were struck by the absence of load-bearing walls, a testament to Le Corbusier’s innovative design. He employed his modular system, or “modulors,” for interior partitioning. Each module featured built-in cupboards with bed compartments underneath. During the day, the beds could be pushed under the cupboards, transforming the space and maximizing living areas.
We were surprised to learn that a small room (with walls), was designated for a live-in maid. It was her task to convert the rooms between their day and night uses – while the family enjoyed breakfast in a unique dining space set within the staircase.
Le Corbusier’s design philosophy was all about efficiency – minimizing space and materials. This approach also influenced the ceiling height. Most of the rooms are only 2.26 meters high. While intended to save on heating, the low ceilings create a somewhat claustrophobic feel.
Our visit to the Corbusier house concluded on the roof garden terrace, a shared space originally meant for both duplex families. We couldn’t help but imagine it as a fantastic spot for summer parties.
House by the architect Hans Scharoun
After exploring the Corbusier House, Amanda took us around the Weissenhof Estate, pointing out the architectural features of each building. Since the other remaining houses still have tenants, we admired them from the outside.
One house that particularly impressed us was the detached home designed by Hans Scharoun, notable for its partly rounded facade. The first floor’s large living room as well as the three smaller bedrooms on the upper floor face southeast, allowing ample sunlight—an innovative feature in the 1920s that may seem standard today.
Interestingly, the Scharoun House was the first building on the estate to be renovated as a listed building.
Terraced houses by J.J.P. Oud
The five compact terraced houses at the Weissenhof Estate, designed by Dutch architect Jacobus Johannes Peter Oud—his only project outside of the Netherlands—captivated us. These stylish homes offer 73 square meters of living space, constructed with lightweight concrete mixed on-site. Each house features a small garden that resembles a backyard, with the original entrance leading directly from the garden into the living room. Today’s tenants mostly use the back entrance which is leading into the laundry room. Interestingly, there’s no hallway inside as a space-saving measure. If we had to choose a favorite among these architectural gems, these houses would top the list.
Mies van der Rohe House
We know the works of architect Mies van der Rohe from the New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie) in Berlin and the Barcelona Pavilion in Barcelona, today a replica of the one he created for the Expo in 1929. At the Weissenhof Estate, Mies van der Rohe designed a housing block with 24 flats. Amanda tells us that the corner flats were very tiny and designed for “Fräuleins”, meaning unmarried women who had to work in order to earn a living.
After the guided tour, we explored the Weissenhof Estate on our own. Hunger soon set in, leading us to Stetter Weinhaus, a traditional Swabian restaurant. There, we enjoyed some lovely regional white wine and delicious vegetarian dishes.
Why you should do a guided tour at the Weissenhof Estate
The guided tour took around two hours, and our guide Amanda was very knowledgeable. She explained the architectural features of the Weissenhof Estate and gave a good overview of the history of modern housing movement. Thanks to her we could admire the many small details that we would have otherwise missed.
It is also possible to visit the museum and the Le Corbusier house without a guided tour by yourself. The Weissenhof Estate Museum provides a lot of material (also in English) that explains the history and the features of the Weissenhof Estate.
How to get to the Weissenhof estate?
The Weissenhof Estate (Weissenhofsiedlung) is in the northern outskirts of Stuttgart. Several tram and metro lines pass in the vicinity. Killesberg station is close by, but only served by Line U5, while Pragfriedhof is served by more lines but an uphill walk.
Explore more modern architecture in Germany with us – read about our visits to
NB: We had no sponsoring for our guided tour of Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart. We paid all expenses ourselves.
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The small town of Biel in Switzerland also has a lot of buildings from that period and style!
I love the style f this building, it’s so unique! I’ve not yet been to the Weissenhof Estate, but it looks like one of those places that would make for an incredible tour. One of these days, I must go!
Dear Emily, Stuttgart is not on the usual route for foreign tourists, so not many people go to explore the area. If you are interested in modern architecture it is definitely worth the detour – they also do English tours, but not as often as the German tours.