Heerstraße 12–16 office building, Office building in Westend, Germany

Heerstraße 12–16 is a two-part office complex on Heerstraße in Berlin's Westend, designed by Paul Emmerich and Paul Baumgarten and built in 1938–1941. The western block (No. 16) was completed in November 1939 for Philipp Holzmann AG; the larger eastern block (No. 12–14) was occupied in January 1941 by the Reichsjugendführung. A fire wall separated the two sections, and the Bayernallee wing, largely destroyed in 1945, was rebuilt in 1958.

The western section (today Heerstraße 16) was built for the Philipp Holzmann AG construction firm, which was both client and contractor; its foundation stone was laid on 14 December 1938 and it was finished in November 1939. The larger eastern part (Heerstraße 12–14) was erected for the Reichsjugendführung of the Hitler Youth and occupied in January 1941. In April 1945 Volkssturm units and underage Hitler Youth defended the Heerstraße here against the Red Army, and the Bayernallee wing was largely destroyed, then rebuilt in 1958.

The building holds protected status as a cultural monument and reflects the construction practices rooted in this district. Visitors can observe on the facade how Berlin architects of that era combined workspace design with urban aesthetics.

The building sits in a central area of the Westend district and is easily accessible by public transportation. As a protected monument, you can view the facade from the street and observe its architectural features.

In the 1970s and 1980s the building housed Berlin's delousing station, where clothing bound for East Berlin or the GDR was treated with a foul-smelling disinfectant, stamped on an accompanying list, then washed again before shipping.