The building was erected in two construction phases in 1904 and 1910-1911 by Henry van de Velde as the premises of the Grand-Ducal Academy of Art of Saxony. Along with the 'Winkelbau', completed in 1905-1906, which originally housed the Grand-Ducal College of Applied Arts, headed by van de Velde, the building passed to the Bauhaus in 1919. Its dominant northern facade is divided by large studio windows and heavy wall pillars, which extend to the top storey in the central zone. The building - in which the Director's Office for Walter Gropius, designed for the Bauhaus exhibition in 1923, is located - is today used as the main building of the Bauhaus University of Weimar.