Kaufhaus J. Lewin (Department Store)

The former Lewin Department Store, a cuboid frame structure in reinforced concrete, designed by architect Bruno Föhre, dominates Halle’s market square simply by dint of its size. The façade is eclectic, with ‘New Building’, neo-classical and art deco design elements. It is faced in grey-blue tinted shell limestone from Kirchheim. Towards Schülershof, Föhre added a seven-storey tower-like construction with a colonnade on the ground floor. The roof was built partly in glass skylights, to make the top floor lighter. The bottom four storeys of the textile department store were used as salesrooms. When the Nazis came to power, the Lewin company was expropriated and sold in a compulsory auction. Today the Modernist department-store building houses a bookshop, a clothes shop, offices and flats.