Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Introduction & Top Questions
Early training and influence
Work after World War I
Mies in America
Late work

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: S.R. Crown Hall

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: Esplanade Apartments and Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson: Seagram Building

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: Farnsworth House

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's IBM Building at 330 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.

Living room of the Farnsworth House, Plano, Ill., designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, completed 1951.

At a Glance

The Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, designed by Mies van der Rohe; photographed in 1955

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe summary

Quizzes

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

Architecture: The Built World

Bauhaus

63 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Visual Arts Quizzes

Related Questions

How could the windows at the Tugendhat House make the main living floor feel open to the outdoors?
How did Hendrik Petrus Berlage influence Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s ideas about brick and structure?
How did Karl Friedrich Schinkel influence Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s designs?
How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe design the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology?
How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe get his early experience in construction?
How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe serve during World War I?
How did Peter Behrens influence Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s career?
How did the Bauhaus combine art education with technical craftsmanship?
How did the Farnsworth House express Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s modernist ideas?
How did the German Pavilion use walls and columns to create a sequence of spaces?
How did the Lake Shore Drive Apartments change skyscraper design?
How did the New National Gallery in Berlin organize its exhibition spaces?
How did the Tugendhat House adapt ideas from the German Pavilion for a private home?
How did the Weimar Republic encourage new ideas in German architecture after World War I?
When and where was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe born?
When did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe become director of the Bauhaus?
Where did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe die?
Which architect hired Ludwig Mies van der Rohe after seeing his first suburban house design?
Which architect worked with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe on the Seagram Building?
Which characteristics of International Style architecture appear in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s buildings?
Which materials were central to the buildings Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed for the Illinois Institute of Technology?
Which materials were used in the German Pavilion in Barcelona?
Which modernist groups did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe join after World War I?
Which other major modern architects worked in Peter Behrens’s office with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe?
Which role did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe hold in the Deutscher Werkbund?
Who were Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 1926 memorial?
Why did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe add nonstructural I-beams to the facades of the Lake Shore Drive Apartments?
Why did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe not attend formal architecture school?
Why is the New National Gallery considered a major example of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s late work?
Why was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s memorial to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg demolished?
Why is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe so famous?
What is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe famous for?
What was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s family like?
How did Ludwig Mies van der Rohe become famous?
What did Frank Gehry do to his house?
What was Frank Lloyd Wright’s early life like?
What is Frank Lloyd Wright best known for?
How did Frank Lloyd Wright become famous?
Why is Le Corbusier important?
What is Le Corbusier famous for?

Visual Arts Architecture

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External Websites

Whitney Museum of American Art - Mie's Life
Artnet - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Official Site of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Official Site of Mies van der Rohe Society
Art in Context - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Â– Pioneer of Architectural Restraint
TheArtStory - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
The Museum of Modern Art - Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (Biography) (PDF)

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

American architect

Also known as: Maria Ludwig Michael Mies

Written by

Wolf Von Eckardt

Design Critic, Time magazine, 1981–85. Architecture Critic, The Washington Post, 1963–81. Author of A Place to Live: The Crisis of the Cities and others.

Wolf Von Eckardt

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 4, 2026 •History

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (born March 27, 1886, Aachen, Germany—died August 17, 1969, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) was a German-born American architect whose rectilinear forms, crafted in elegant simplicity, epitomized the International Style of architecture. Ludwig Mies (he added his mother’s surname, van der Rohe, when he had established himself as an architect) was the son of a master mason who owned a small stonecutter’s shop. Mies helped his father on various construction sites but...

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