The Schminke House in Löbau is one of the world’s top four residential buildings of classical modernism. Experience its unique architecture, enjoy the ambience created by light and air inside this icon from a time when people pursued a ‘New Objetivity’ in architecture. Allow us to invite you to a guided tour or discover it on your own with one of our handheld audio guides. You may even rent the entire house for a night or a special occasion. We look forward to your visit!

Fritz Schminke, the owner and builder of the house, was born in the West-Saxon town of Glauchau in 1897, where his father Wilhelm was an executive employee in a textile mill. In 1904, Wilhelm Schminke met the Löbau entrepreneur Julius Richter, who was willing to sell his loss-making pasta factory Loeser & Richter. He recognized the potential of selling pasta on the German domestic market, and acquired the property and its production facilities on the street Äußere Bautzner Straße. Wilhelm Schminke had fallen ill in 1918 and could not fully run the factory with his commitment any longer. Being the oldest son, Fritz took over the provisional management of the pasta factory at the age of 21.

Hans Scharoun was born in Bremen in 1893. He spent his childhood in Bremerhaven, a city whose maritime environment clearly left a mark on him. After he graduated from school in 1912, he embarked on architecture studies at Berlin’s Technical University - until he enlisted for war in 1914. From 1919 on, he worked as a freelance architect in the East Prussian town of Insterburg (today Chernyakhovsk, near Kaliningrad)