The school was located in Dessau from 1925 to 1933, principally under the guidance of Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer, and contributed buildings and objects which are still in use today. The iconic Wassily Chair was designed in Dessau by Marcel Breuer (along with the more ubiquitous Cantilever Chair).
When the Nazi regime finally forced the closure of the school, many of its luminaries fled Germany to spread their ideas and influence to the wider world. The explosion of Modernist buildings in Chicago, Tel Aviv and Australia and elsewhere can be attributed to this forced diaspora.