Kornhaus
by Carl Fieger (1929–30)

The city of Dessau, together with the brewery Schultheiss-Patzenhofer, commissioned the construction of the Kornhaus restaurant in 1929. The building was to be built on the bank of the Elbe river near the steamship dock. The name commemorates a historic granary that stood here until the 1870s.

The commission was awarded to a draughtsman working in Walter Gropius’s office. Although Carl Fieger did not win the initial competition his proposal was accepted, most likely for financial reasons.

Cubic corpora

The Kornhaus was built using a mix of construction techniques with brickwork walls and a reinforced concrete frame. The individual cubic corpora are grouped around the kitchen and the catering block. The upper floor included a dance hall and a restaurant area from which one reached the banks of the Elbe. The front, semi-circular building in the west was originally conceived as an open balcony, but in mid-construction, it was closed in with glass. The basement floor featured a bar with a separate entrance.

Despite several refurbishments, many of the Kornhaus’s original features are still preserved. Renovated in 1996, the building is today open to the public once again – a historically resonant meeting place in one of Dessau’s most attractive places.