Palais Dietrich

Palais Dietrich is an 18th-century building located at Zerbster Straße 35 in the former old town of Dessau. Prince Leopold had the building constructed between 1747 and 1752 for his son, Dietrich von Anhalt-Dessau (1702–1769).

The two-story house with a mansard roof rests on foundations made of fieldstones and bricks set in clay. The depth of the foundations is only 50 to 60 cm. The facade features a strongly protruding central risalit, whose three central window axes are further set off. A two-sided grand staircase, which was added in 1930, leads to the round-arched central portal, framed by an aedicule with a segmental pediment. Around 1820, the roof and facade underwent structural changes. In 1972/73, the gate passage on Zerbster Straße, crowned with baroque sandstone figures, was demolished. Only the stone figures were secured. From 1986 to 1996, the house was reconstructed.

After its completion in 1752, the building served as Prince Dietrich's city residence. After his death in 1769, the building passed into the possession of Prince Franz. In 1777, he made parts of the Palais available to the Philanthropinum. From 1780 to 1793, the school used the entire Palais. Afterwards, Prince Dietrich's sister, Princess Henriette Amalie, moved in for a year. After her death, the building housed the Amalien Foundation, named after her. However, its painting collection could only be housed on the upper floor after 1815. In 1927, after the paintings were transferred to the newly built Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, the upper floor was also converted into apartments. As one of the few historic houses, Palais Dietrich survived World War II almost unscathed. After the war, it was used as the location for the Hauptmann-Loeper-Gymnasium, which was renamed Goethe-Oberschule III and later Philanthropinum. Due to lack of space, the school moved out of the building in 1950, which was then used as the House of German-Soviet Friendship until 1962 and from 1962 to 1972 as the vocational school of Waggonbau Dessau. From October 7, 1972, to 1986, it served as the district youth club Majakowski, hosting events and discos. In 1986, the Dessau City Library took over the building to house the collections of the former State Library, now the Scientific Library of the Anhaltische Landesbücherei Dessau. The main library of the State Library is located in Palais Waldersee.