Doesn’t the Lipanum stand as a testament to Leipzig’s ever-evolving story? Today, let’s uncover the hidden narratives within its walls. This office and business house is located on the Martin-Luther-Ring. It is on the southwestern part of Leipzig’s inner city ring. The Lipanum is a protected building.
Now, cast your mind back to 1787. Picture a merchant named Erdmann Traugott Reichel. He purchased the former Apel’s Garden. Reichel then built several residential buildings on the land. One of them, the front building with 41 window axes, was built directly on the street from 1789 to 1792. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy lived here from 1835 to 1836. Access to the rear buildings was initially through a passageway. When this was replaced by a street in 1890 and 1891, almost half of Reichel’s house had to make way. In 1914, the remaining part of the front building was removed to construct a new office building.
Imagine Peter Dybwad. He was the architect and co-builder of the Reichsgericht building. This was his last great project. The Lipanum was completed in 1915.
Among the first tenants in the Lipanum was the Knauth, Nachod & Kühne banking house. Another tenant was the Otto Beyer publishing house. It was a leading publisher of women’s magazines. Later, it moved to Elsterstrasse. After its expropriation in 1946, it became the Verlag für die Frau publishing house.
After the Second World War, the Lipanum housed office departments of VEB Geophysik. It also housed departments of the TAKRAF mechanical engineering combine. In 1969, the Handelshochschule, which had become independent again, moved in. It occupied a large part of its sections here. Before it closed and was re-established in 1992, it returned the premises to the city of Leipzig. The city had become the owner of the building. A comprehensive renovation took place in 1995 and 1996. Only then did the building receive the name Lipanum.
Notice the building’s architecture. The street front is 59 meters long and has 14 window axes. The middle seven axes are slightly recessed on the upper three floors. They are divided by six columns. The remaining axes have pillars. Stone balustrades stand in front of the windows on the first floor. Above the third floor is a strong architrave. It features relief depictions of festoons and rams’ heads. Above the massively developed first attic floor, there is a five-axis structure in the central section. It has stone vases between the windows. A temple-like roof turret crowns the structure via a walm-like roof.
The Lipanum has 7300 square meters of office and commercial space. It stands opposite the Leipziger Trias-Haus on the Martin-Luther-Ring. Peter Dybwad, a well-known Norwegian architect, designed it between 1914 and 1916.
So, as you continue your exploration of Leipzig, remember the Lipanum. It is more than just a building. It is a repository of stories. It is a landmark that has witnessed Leipzig’s transformation through the ages.