Altes Waisenhaus, Historical orphanage building in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Altes Waisenhaus is an asymmetrical four-sided building with long, uniform three-storey wings around an elongated inner courtyard. It has a preserved hipped roof broken by tall dormers, and two portals with sculptural decoration lead into the tree-planted courtyard.

The building was constructed in 1705 as a cavalry barracks but was converted into an orphanage in 1712. This transformation made it a significant institution for orphaned children in the growing city.

The name Altes Waisenhaus recalls the orphanage, workhouse and house of correction that the city agreed on in 1710 after the cavalry barracks was abandoned. Inmates were orphans and poor people, but also vagrants, drunkards, gamblers and quarrelsome spouses. Uniformed orphans drilled in the courtyard with wooden rifles and marched singing through the streets.

The building sits at Charlottenplatz in central Stuttgart and is easy to reach on foot. Today it houses a restaurant with a beer garden in the shaded inner courtyard where visitors can sit and spend time.

The orphan boys drilled in uniform in the courtyard with wooden rifles on their shoulders, drumbeat marking the step, and marched singing through the streets. The daily routine began at six with prayer and a wash at the courtyard fountain, and the diet allowed meat twice a week and wine four times.