The Pasta-making, War Criminal’s Modernist Home

In the unlikely location of the small town of Löbau, Germany, sits a modernist design icon. The Haus Schminke, or Schminke House, is an architectural phenomenon designed by Hans Scharoun in 1930. The house was designed for the owner of a pasta factory, Mr. Schminke, his wife and four children. Germany at the time was tense with the rise of the Nazi Party. Hans himself was considering leaving his home nation because it no longer aligned with his ideals. The Schminke's budget reflected this and was anything but large. The goal was a functional home that could fit two parents, four children, and the occasional guest. The construction took only a year before being completed in 1931. Scharoun’s design was built on a steel frame and covered in concrete and glass. It featured curved walls contrasted with sharp 90° angles, large terraces, floor-to-ceiling grid windows, round windows, chrome entrances, repeating circular overhead lighting, and an emphasis on welcoming the rural and organic environment into their home. The design featured lots of colorful pops throughout the home to combat the grey exterior. 

Sadly, the Schminke family did not get to enjoy their new home for long. Fritz Schminke was momentarily taken as prisoner in the war and shortly after, in 1945, Soviet military forces seized the house for their own use as a military commander’s office. It was returned to the family just a year later in 1946 but the troubles didn’t end there. Then, the family had been driven out of their pasta factory and in 1950, Fritz and his family migrated to West Germany because Fritz was now considered a war criminal for supplying the Nazi armed forces with pasta. Only three years after their move, Fritz’s marriage failed and they went their separate ways before both dying in the seventies. They had leased the house out to the state before moving and the house went through a few uses throughout that period. At first, the state declared it a clubhouse for the “Free German Youth” movement, and then only a year later the city changed the use again to a Pioneer home. It would remain under that title until 1993 when the Schminke daughters would take the home back and open it up for public use. Today, the Schminke still stands. There are guided tours and the building can be rented out overnight or for meetings. A two person stay costs 300 euros (about $336) and it goes up per person from there. 

Sources: 

Elledecor.com’s article on the house, Architectuul.com’s article on the house, and stiftung-hausschminke.eu, the official house’s website.