Since the beginning of institutionalised architectural training at public universities at the start of 19th century, teaching history of architecture has been part of the curriculum. As in all other subjects of architectural studies, diversification and specialisation took place in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The history of the Institute of Architectural History at the University of Stuttgart is presented here as an ideal case of such teaching at technically orientated universities. Today's institute can be traced back to the Institute for Theory and History of Building Form founded at the former Technical University of Stuttgart in 1911. Personal biographies of the institute's directors and the coincidence of history mean that the new appointments to the chair in 1911, 1938, 1968 and 1989 coincide with historical turning points: 1911 with the reform movement of the imperial era, 1938 with a culmination point of the Nazi state on the eve of the Second World War, 1968 with the student revolt, 1989 with the reunification of Germany, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new world order. The respective thematic focus of the Institute reflects these historical caesuras.