Haus des Deutschen Metallarbeiterverbandes

The German Metal Workers’ Union Building in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district was designed by Erich Mendelsohn and Rudolf W. Reichel. Inaugurated in 1930, this simple and unadorned building is one of the best-known symbols of Germany’s labour movement. It was built to house the trade union’s headquarters, its administrative offices and the union’s own print shop.
At the end of the 1920s, the Deutscher Metallarbeiterverband, or German Metal Workers’ Union, had decided to move its headquarters from Stuttgart to Berlin. The trade union wanted a dignified official headquarters within close proximity to the city centre and held a design competition for its construction. Two architects with similar proposals were selected as the winners: Erich Mendelsohn and Rudolf W. Reichel. But Mendelsohn effectively implemented the design on his own.