Dining room
The living room and dining room appear as one coherent space but may be separated by a curtain. The Gropiuses entertained often. They invited Gropius’s students each year and would set up a buffet on the sideboard along the glass block wall and take advantage of the patio space in pleasant weather. Yet they favored small, intimate dinner parties with close friends and designed their dining room as a dramatic setting in which to entertain them. While they enjoyed cocktails with their guests in the living room, the maid would be behind the drape quietly preparing the table for the evening’s dinner. The drape would open and dinner would be served. The overhead light, a fixture designed for use in an art museum to light a piece of sculpture, created a dramatic scene as it illuminated to just the edge of the table. The guests would be sitting in darkness while the crystal and tableware sparkled under the soft light and reflected upward creating a flattering appearance for those seated. The exterior lighting would illuminate the landscape, eliminating the glass wall and creating the illusion of dining outside. The dining table and chairs were also made in the Bauhaus workshops under the direction of Marcel Breuer. The chrome and canvas chairs are paired with a Formica dining table designed in 1925. All were original furnishings of the Bauhaus director’s house in Dessau.
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