Haus Hohe Pappeln, Art Nouveau residence in Weimar, Germany

Haus Hohe Pappeln is Henry van de Velde's own house at Belvederer Allee 58 in Weimar, built 1906–07. Its plan resembles a ship: an L-shaped stair at the north tip leads to the raised ground floor, where a vestibule window was pushed up to take in mail. A wide opening leads from the hall into the salon, and the dining room in the "stern" is wrapped by a U-shaped balcony with a stair down to the garden.

The house was built between 1906 and 1907 by Belgian architect Henry van de Velde, who lived there while leading an arts school in Weimar. Van de Velde used the project to test his ideas about how people should live in modern times.

The house's name comes from the tall poplars at the edge of the plot beside the Papiergraben. Van de Velde's wife Maria kept her desk in the salon, where the family held private readings, lectures and musical soirées; a sliding door connected it to her husband's study. Guests included Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Richard Dehmel, Jean Jaurès, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis and Edvard Munch.

The house sits on Belvederer Allee in a quiet residential area that you can reach on foot from the city center. A guide leads you through the rooms and explains how everything is arranged and why, giving you a better sense of the designer's thinking.

The garden fountain holds a figure by Flemish sculptor George Minne, a frequent guest at the house. The house itself takes its name from the tall poplars at the edge of the site, and the Papiergraben stream runs past the property. A curved turning circle for carriages once led to the entrance.