​​​Haus Löwenstein, located on Aachen's market square, is one of the city's most famous buildings. It was likely built in the 14th century and is one of the few buildings from that period still standing today. It is believed that the house was once used both for residential purposes and as an Inn.

​At the beginning of the 20th century, the house was united with the neighbouring house, Zum Wolf. During the Second World War, Haus Löwenstein was damaged. In 1969, the house was acquired by the city and restored by the city conservator Leo Hugot, who made significant structural changes. In the process, Haus Löwenstein and the house Zum Wolf were again visually separated, although today they still share the same entrance. Hugot strove to restore the house to its Gothic form, although he had no historical plans or illustrations. For this reason, his renovations were viewed quite critically at the time. The historic facade, however, stands in marked contrast to Hugot's interior design of Haus Löwenstein which is, in keeping with the early seventies trend, done in brutalist style.

This approach is characteristic of the reconstruction of destroyed cities in Germany. Immediately after the end of the war, reconstruction was influenced by a lack of space and was subject to the maxim of restoring important infrastructure and creating housing as quickly as possible. As a result, many historic buildings initially underwent only makeshift repairs and were not comprehensively renovated and restored until the 1960s or 1970s.  

​Subsequently, they were often re-purposed, as was the case with Haus Löwenstein. The new design of the interior made it possible to use the building for the city administration, a purpose which it still serves today along with a large hall for press conferences and space for the marketing department.

Haus Löwenstein is thus emblematic of a particular era of German reconstruction: historic building fabric was preserved after the war, but at the same time changed and re-purposed.