Volkshochschule
In Dortmund, Volkshochschule occupies the Löwenhof, an early-twentieth-century building with wheelchair access. Two stone lions flank the façade, each holding a coat of arms. Adult education covers languages, health, arts, and technology alongside cultural events and workshops.
Paul Lutter and Hugo Steinbach designed the building, constructed between 1912 and 1913 as a hotel. It included a restaurant and the Elite-Café Löwenhof. That concert café ranked among West Germany’s largest before Heinrich August Schulte moved its headquarters there in 1921. Signage above the lions then gave the building its later nickname, Stahlhaus. Bomb damage in May 1943 led to reconstruction following the original plans.
Afterward, the British military government used the lower floors for political education called Die Brücke. Dortmund acquired the building in 1996 for the Volkshochschule. Heritage protection recognises the Löwenhof as a cultural monument. Look up at the paired lions and their coats of arms: they remain the clearest detail of its earlier identity.
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- Dortmund
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Take this page with you
The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.
Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Dortmund. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
What is myTuur?
myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.