The Court Houses are a series of dwelling designs from the 1930s that have not yet been connected to a known location or commission. Mies served as the director of the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, from 1931 until its closing in 1933. The Court House concept seems to have originated during this time and was probably first conceived within the framework of the Bauhaus curriculum as an assignment for his advanced architecture students.

In this sketch of a Court House interior, Mies envisions the view from the main living area of the house through a glass wall to an exterior courtyard. The image, which reveals a solitary column, conveys the flowing nature of the space. In one sense, the Court Houses could be said to represent Mies’s way of accommodating built space to the limitations of city lots, as opposed to the freedom of country houses.