# NEO

> This file is a plain-text rendition of a page on mytuur.com, generated from the same data as the HTML version.

Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/leipzig/spot/neo/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

NEO stands in Leipzig’s city centre as a mixed-use building combining offices, shopping, restaurants, and parking. Wheelchair access supports movement through the complex. The preserved Main sandstone façade recalls its origins as the Althoff department store, built between 1912 and 1914. Johannes Knubel created the sculptural details on its façade.

Philipp Schaefer designed the original building with contributions from Gustav Pflaume. Five usable floors surrounded three interior light courts beneath vaulted glass roofs. Mahogany, pearwood, oak, rosewood, marble, tiles, and majolica shaped its early interiors. After wartime nationalisation, it became the Freies Kaufhaus and later the Centrum Warenhaus in East Germany. Escalators, an Art Deco staircase, and rebuilding after a fire marked later changes.

A conversion between 2022 and 2024 created more than 24,000 square metres of office space. Shopping and restaurants occupy 8,400 square metres. Parking serves 400 cars and 300 bicycles, with charging stations for electric vehicles. EEX and ECC plan to move their headquarters into several floors, linking the building to international commodity markets. The former central light court once held heavy chandeliers, while later work added a water fountain.

- City: [Leipzig](https://mytuur.com/en/city/leipzig/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_NEO_685b9395717a3e13abe9ff6e_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Warenhaus_Althoff_Lichthof.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_NEO_685b9395717a3e13abe9ff6e_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Warenhaus_Althoff_Erstes_Obergeschoss.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_NEO_685b9395717a3e13abe9ff6e_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Warenhaus_Althoff_Glasabteilung.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_NEO_685b9395717a3e13abe9ff6e_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Warenhaus_Althoff_Galanterieabteilung.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_NEO_685b9395717a3e13abe9ff6e_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Warenhaus_Althoff_Damenkonfektion.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Leipzig. 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.