Stadthaus

Stadthaus stands in Düsseldorf’s Altstadt on Mühlenstraße, surrounded by the Andreaskirche and Dominican monastery. Its three courtyards reflect successive additions to the historic building. Jesuits built the Stadthaus in three phases from the late seventeenth century, creating a monastery, college and school. An observatory occupied the upper floor around 1710. The building connected directly with the Andreaskirche, while its observatory later served astronomers Ferdinand Orban and Johann Friedrich Benzenberg. The Düsseldorf Law Academy used its aula academica. After the Jesuit order dissolved in 1773, the property became a state office and later a government seat. Karl Friedrich Schinkel redesigned the Andreasstraße façade in classical style in 1823. The Royal Government of Düsseldorf used the building until 1911, before the city acquired it. After the First World War, municipal police offices occupied the Stadthaus. During the Nazi regime, the building hosted authorities and witnessed mass arrests and political persecution. After the Second World War, city administration used the building and distinguished it from Düsseldorf’s Rathaus by calling it Stadthaus. The site became a protected historical monument in 1985. A memorial and educational centre for victims of the Nazi regime opened here in 1987. The building became a hotel after its sale in 2009, while the memorial reopened in 2015 with an exhibition about Düsseldorf’s children and young people during the Nazi era.