Dusseldorf Architecture Guide: City History Through Our Landmarks
Strichwerke
Cover photo: Martin Falbisoner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Düsseldorf's architecture is not one story. It is three, stacked along a single bend in the Rhine: a medieval castle tower, a postwar theatre that looks like a sculpture, and a harbour of leaning steel-and-brick towers built thirty years apart. This dusseldorf architecture guide reads the city through the six buildings we draw for it, which are not a list of the city's best architecture but the points where those three stories touch the ground.
The short version: Düsseldorf grew from a 13th-century castle town into a river port, then rebuilt itself twice in the twentieth century. The Schlossturm and the Old Town hall carry the medieval layer, the Rheinuferpromenade carries the 19th-century riverfront, the Schauspielhaus carries postwar modernism, and the Rheinturm and the Gehry buildings carry the city's late-century reinvention. All six are in our collection.
Why Düsseldorf reads as three cities stacked on one river bend
Düsseldorf received its city rights on 14 August 1288, after the Battle of Worringen, and the Old Town is still the nucleus of everything that followed. For its first five centuries the city was a residence town: the seat of the Counts, and later the Dukes, of Berg, built around a castle on the Rhine. That layer survives in one building, the Schlossturm, and in the street plan of the Altstadt around it.
The second layer is industrial. By the late nineteenth century Düsseldorf had become the "desk of the Ruhr" (Schreibtisch des Ruhrgebiets), an administrative and commercial centre for the coal and steel region to its north. The city pushed its riverfront forward between 1898 and 1902 and built a working harbour. That layer survives in the Rheinuferpromenade and in the harbour district that later became the Medienhafen.
The third layer is the one most visitors photograph. After the Second World War the city rebuilt on modern lines, and from the 1960s onward it kept rebuilding: a theatre in 1970, a telecommunications tower in 1982, and a harbour full of new architecture in the 1990s. Düsseldorf is unusual among German cities in that its most recognisable buildings are almost all from the last sixty years.
The six buildings in this Düsseldorf architecture guide
Each design is a 5 by 7 centimetre magnet, drawn as an orthographic line elevation and finished by hand in our workshop. What follows is the short history of each building, with the one fact that makes it worth drawing.
Schlossturm
The Schlossturm is the last standing piece of the Düsseldorf Castle, and it is the oldest thing in this collection. Its first three storeys date from the thirteenth century. In 1552 the architect Alessandro Pasqualini added a fourth, polygonal storey with Tuscan columns; in 1845 the court architect Friedrich August Stüler designed a fifth in the Rundbogenstil, on an idea from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The castle itself burned in 1872, the city bought the ruin in 1882 and levelled it by 1892, and only the tower was spared. It has housed the Schifffahrtsmuseum, the city's inland shipping museum, since 1984, and it stands 33 metres tall on the Burgplatz.
The detail worth knowing: the weathervane on top is a copper figure of a fire-blower, made in 1957 by the sculptor Ferdi Walther. It is there to remember the 1872 fire that took the rest of the castle.
Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall)
The Old Town Hall is the building that made Düsseldorf a capital rather than a village. The first wing was built between 1570 and 1573 by the master mason Heinrich Tuschmann, with a red brick facade, after the city outgrew the house it had been using on the Ratinger Straße. Two further wings were added later, and the building is still the seat of the city council.
The fact that explains the Altstadt: on roughly half a square kilometre around the town hall there are now more than 300 pubs, restaurants and bars, which is why Düsseldorf calls the district the "longest bar in the world" (längste Theke der Welt). The medieval street plan is what makes that density possible.
Rheinuferpromenade
The Rheinuferpromenade is the reason the Altstadt opens onto the river instead of onto a road. Until 1993 the riverbank carried a busy surface road. Between 1990 and 1993 that traffic was moved into the Rheinufertunnel, a 2 kilometre road tunnel that cost 550 million Deutschmarks and is the sixth-longest inner-city tunnel in Europe. With the cars gone, the bank became a three-kilometre promenade for pedestrians, skaters and cyclists.
The detail: the promenade is not new. A first version was created between 1898 and 1902, when the city pushed its riverfront forward. The 1993 tunnel simply gave the same stretch of bank back to the people who walk it.
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
The Schauspielhaus is the building that divides opinion in Düsseldorf, and that is the point. It was designed by the Düsseldorf architect Bernhard Pfau, built between 1965 and 1969, and opened on 16 January 1970 with a performance of Büchner's Dantons Tod. Its white, curved, layered form was deliberately set against the dark, flat, glass-and-steel Dreischeibenhaus next door, the 94-metre Thyssen tower completed in 1960. Pfau wanted a shape that could not be mistaken for an ordinary building, and he got one.
The fact that says everything about the city's relationship with it: the cost rose from an estimated 25 million Deutschmarks to 41 million, and the opening night was met with protests outside. The Great Hall seats 738, and its walls are lined with bird's-eye maple lamellae, inclined by 14 degrees so the room works as a resonance body. It is the only state theatre in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Rheinturm
The Rheinturm is the tallest structure in Düsseldorf at 240.5 metres, and the tenth-tallest television tower in Germany. It was designed by Harald Deilmann, built between 1979 and 1982, and it was the first tower in the world built entirely from reinforced concrete: more than 7,500 cubic metres of concrete and 1,100 tonnes of reinforcing steel, resting on 256 bored piles driven 17 to 22 metres into the soft ground beside the Rhine. The observation deck sits at 168 metres; the revolving restaurant above it, now the QOMO, sits at 172.5 metres.
The detail most people miss: the tower carries a clock. The Lichtzeitpegel, installed by the artist Horst H. Baumann in November 1981, is a set of 39 bullseye lamps on the shaft that displays the time in decimal form. It is listed by Guinness as the largest decimal time scale in the world, and you can read it from the Altstadt across the river.
Medienhafen (Neuer Zollhof)
The Medienhafen is the harbour district that Düsseldorf stopped using and started designing. The port itself opened in 1896 and is still the third-largest inland harbour in Germany, but its eastern edge was redeveloped from the 1990s as a media and office quarter. Its landmark is the Neuer Zollhof, three buildings by the Canadian-American architect Frank O. Gehry, completed in 1998. Their floor plans and facades curve and lean, and the tallest is 14 storeys, just under 50 metres.
The fact that makes the group worth drawing: each of the three has a different skin. The outer two are white plaster and red brick; the central one is clad in stainless steel, so it reflects the materials and shapes of its two neighbours. An earlier competition for the site was won by Zaha Hadid in the early 1990s, but her design was never built.
What the six buildings say about how the city grew
Read in order, the six designs are a timeline of Düsseldorf's relationship with its river. The Schlossturm and the Old Town Hall belong to the castle town that faced the Rhine as a boundary. The Rheinuferpromenade belongs to the industrial city that used the river as a working edge. The Schauspielhaus belongs to the postwar city that rebuilt its centre on modern lines. The Rheinturm and the Gehry buildings belong to the city that, from the 1980s onward, turned its harbour and its skyline into its identity.
| Building | Era | Architect / date | What it marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schlossturm | Medieval | 13th c., extended 1552 and 1845 | The castle town |
| Altes Rathaus | Early modern | Heinrich Tuschmann, 1570–1573 | The city as a capital |
| Rheinuferpromenade | Industrial | 1898–1902, rebuilt 1990–1993 | The working riverfront |
| Schauspielhaus | Postwar | Bernhard Pfau, 1965–1969 | Postwar modernism |
| Rheinturm | Late 20th c. | Harald Deilmann, 1979–1982 | The city as a landmark |
| Medienhafen | Contemporary | Frank O. Gehry, completed 1998 | The reinvented harbour |
Altes Rathaus
Rheinturm
Where to buy Strichwerke magnets in Düsseldorf
We list only the retail partners we can verify. In Düsseldorf that is one:
- QOMO Restaurant & Bar, Stromstraße 20, Rheinturm, 40221 Düsseldorf — rheinturm.de/restaurant
Stock moves between shops, so check ahead before making a special trip. We do not publish live stock levels.
The full Düsseldorf collection
Six designs, each a 5 by 7 centimetre magnet drawn as an orthographic line elevation and finished by hand in our workshop. The set covers the city's three architectural layers in one place: the medieval castle tower and town hall, the riverfront promenade, and the postwar theatre, tower and harbour buildings.
- Schlossturm
- Altes Rathaus
- Rheinuferpromenade
- Schauspielhaus
- Rheinturm
- Medienhafen
The full city collection is at Düsseldorf Fridge Magnets.
When this collection is not for you
If you want a general Düsseldorf souvenir. This set is deliberately narrow. It covers six specific buildings, not the city's full architectural range.
If you are looking for the Kunstakademie or the Dreischeibenhaus. Both matter to the city's architecture, and neither is in the collection. We draw what we have drawn well rather than everything.
If you want a photograph. These are line elevations, not photographs. If you want the city as it looks, buy a print.
Frequently asked questions
What is the oldest building in Düsseldorf? The Schlossturm, whose first three storeys date from the thirteenth century. The Basilica of St. Lambertus is documented from 1159 and was completed in 1394, so it is older as a site, but the tower is the oldest surviving part of the castle.
Why is Düsseldorf called the longest bar in the world? Because of the density of its Altstadt. On roughly half a square kilometre around the Old Town Hall there are more than 300 pubs, restaurants and bars, which is why the district is nicknamed the längste Theke der Welt.
Who designed the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus? The Düsseldorf architect Bernhard Pfau. It was built between 1965 and 1969 and opened on 16 January 1970.
How tall is the Rheinturm? 240.5 metres, which makes it the tallest structure in Düsseldorf and the tenth-tallest television tower in Germany. The observation deck is at 168 metres.
Who designed the Neuer Zollhof in the Medienhafen? Frank O. Gehry. The three buildings were completed in 1998. An earlier competition for the site was won by Zaha Hadid, but her design was never built.
When did Düsseldorf get its city rights? On 14 August 1288, after the Battle of Worringen.
Sources and further reading
The building histories above are drawn from the reference entries listed below, which cover each structure's construction dates and architect. The stockist details come from our partners page.
- Wikipedia — Schlossturm (Düsseldorf)
- Wikipedia — Rheinturm
- Wikipedia — Neuer Zollhof
- Wikipedia — Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
- Wikipedia — Altstadt (Düsseldorf)
Cover photo: Martin Falbisoner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
We draw Düsseldorf because the city's history is legible in its buildings, and a set of measured line drawings makes that legible in a way a single souvenir cannot. If you have walked from the Burgplatz to the Rheinturm, the collection is that walk in six pieces. For the same approach to another German city, see our Frankfurt historical landmarks guide, or browse architecture gifts if you are choosing for someone else.