LVR-Industriemuseum Peter-Behrens-Bau

About the museum

After World War I, the mining and steel conglomerate Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH) planned a central warehouse for its consumer goods and announced a competition in 1920. Peter Behrens won the commission mainly because of the design quality of his proposal. Between 1921 and 1925, a building about 86 meters long with a steel skeleton was constructed on Essener Straße, for which GHH's own bridge-building department supplied about 1,000 tons of steel, clad in monastery-format clinker bricks. The upward-stepped floors and ramps for the rail connection make the building a major work of New Objectivity in the Ruhr region.

With the breakup of GHH and the withdrawal of the steel industry, the building lost its function. It was listed in 1989 and therefore remained standing when the former steelworks site was cleared for Neue Mitte Oberhausen. In 1993 the Landschaftsverband Rheinland acquired the building; since 1998 it has served the LVR-Industriemuseum as a central depot for about 250,000 objects, including the largest collection of everyday and work clothing of its kind in Germany.

Today the Peter-Behrens-Bau is one of eight sites of the museum network. On the sixth floor, the exhibition "Peter Behrens – Kunst und Technik" shows the life and work of the architect and designer, who, among other things, designed the AEG logo and in whose studio Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier worked. The Zinkfabrik Altenberg, the network's headquarters in Oberhausen, is closed until probably fall 2027 because of renovation.

Highlights

• Listed brick building by Peter Behrens (1921–1925)
• Exhibition "Peter Behrens – Kunst und Technik" with architectural models
• Central collection depot of the LVR-Industriemuseum with about 250,000 objects
• Significant collection of historic everyday and work clothing

Permanent exhibitions

• Peter Behrens – Kunst und Technik – Exhibition on the sixth floor on the life and work of the architect and designer, with architectural models by students of the Hochschule Düsseldorf, photographs of his buildings, and household and technology objects.

Founded

1998

Operated by

Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR)

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Every first Friday of the month (permanent exhibition only)

Free admission with the LVR-Museumskarte (annual pass for LVR and LWL museums), once a year with the Ruhr Top Card or Ruhr Kultur Card, and including for refugees and members of ICOM and the Deutscher Museumsbund. NRW-Ehrenamtskarte €3. Events have their own prices.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours
• Easy-to-read materials
• Audio description: no information

Entrance via a ramp; café, ticket desk and shop on the ground floor, and the exhibition can be reached by elevator without stairs. Loan wheelchair and mobile seating available; no tactile guidance system. Tours with sign language interpretation (cost covered by the LVR) can be booked at least four weeks in advance through Kulturinfo Rheinland; tours in plain language for groups with learning disabilities.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Getting there & parking

By car via the A 42, exit Oberhausen-Zentrum, then B 223 (Konrad-Adenauer-Allee) and left onto Essener Straße.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Museum café and shop on the ground floor.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit