Every design for Krefeld

From the top of the Inrather Berg, a hill heaped up from the rubble of the Second World War, Krefeld spreads out flat towards the Rhine. Everyday life down there runs along tree-lined avenues and through parks that began as the private gardens of silk manufacturers – the Stadtwald, the Sollbrüggenpark, the Schönwasserpark. Its centre lies a few kilometres west of the river, while the borough of Uerdingen sits right on the bank.

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum heads a list of cultural addresses that includes the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, and two of its most famous houses, Haus Lange and Haus Esters, were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Krefeld earned the name 'Velvet and Silk City' when its silk barons made it one of the richest towns in Prussia, and the façades from that time are still everywhere. At Linn, the medieval castle and its small historic centre keep the oldest layer of the city; the Villa Merländer and the Stadtbad Krefeld add their own chapters.

Home, for anyone from Krefeld, is the four boulevards around the centre, the shade of the old trees and the quiet of the Linn lanes.