Regina Stephan is an art and architectural historian, 1982 – 1988 studied art history, modern history and didactics of the arts at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, 1988 Magister Artium with the thesis Das Lustschlösschen Favorite in Ludwigsburg, 1992 doctorate with the thesis Studien zu Waren- und Geschäftshäusern Erich Mendelsohns in Deutschland, both LMU Munich.
1993 – 1999 Researcher and freelancer at the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg and the State Gazette for Baden-Württemberg GmbH, Stuttgart, 1995 – 1999 Lecturer at the Institute for Architectural History at the University of Stuttgart, 2000 – 2008 Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of History and Theory of Architecture at the Technical University of Darmstadt and 2011 Habilitation in Architectural History and Theory by the TU Darmstadt. Since 2008 professor for the history of architecture and urban development at the Hochschule Mainz.
Her research focuses on the history of architecture between 1850 and 1950, and in particular on the Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt with Joseph Maria Olbrich and Friedrich Pützer, as well as the architecture of Neues Bauen. Erich Mendelsohn’s life and work in three continents is a particular focus of her work. 2013 – 19 Member of the Advisory Boards „Aufbau Denkmalschutzzentrum Weiße Stadt Tel Aviv“, and 2014 – 2021 „World Heritage Application Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt“. Since 2017, member of the Independent Historical Commission „Bauen und Planen im Nationalsozialismus. Preconditions, Institutions, Effects“ of the BMUB. 2021 Co-initiator of the transnational Erich Mendelsohn Initiative Circle.
Member of the Deutscher Werkbund, the Association of German Art Historians, the German National Committee of ICOMOS, Trusted Lecturer of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes