Born in Berlin, Walter Gropius was the third child of Walter Adolph Gropius and Manon Auguste Pauline Scharnweber (1855–1933), daughter of the Prussian politician Georg Scharnweber (1816-1894).
Walter's uncle Martin Gropius (1824-1880) was the architect of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin and a follower of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, with whom Walter's great-grandfather Carl Gropius, who fought under Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo, had shared a flat as a bachelor.

In 1915 Gropius married Alma Mahler (1879–1964), widow of Gustav Mahler.
Walter and Alma's daughter, named Manon after Walter's mother, was born in 1916.
When Manon died of polio at age 18, in 1935, composer Alban Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in memory of her (it is inscribed "to the memory of an angel").
Gropius and Mahler divorced in 1920. (
She had by that time established a relationship with Franz Werfel, whom she later married.)

On 16 October 1923, Gropius married Ilse (later Ise) Frank; they remained together until his death in 1969.
Ise Frank was Jewish.
The couple adopted a daughter together, Beate Gropius, known as Ati.
Ise Gropius died on 9 June 1983 in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Walter's only sister Manon Burchard (1880-1975) is the great-grandmother of the German film and theater actresses Marie Burchard and Bettina Burchard, and of the curator and art historian Wolf Burchard.
Born in Berlin, Walter Gropius was the third child of Walter Adolph Gropius and Manon Auguste Pauline Scharnweber (1855–1933), daughter of the Prussian politician Georg Scharnweber (1816-1894). Walter's uncle Martin Gropius (1824-1880) was the architect of the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin and a follower of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, with whom Walter's great-grandfather Carl Gropius, who fought under Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher at the Battle of Waterloo, had shared a flat as a bachelor. 
In 1915 Gropius married Alma Mahler (1879–1964), widow of Gustav Mahler. Walter and Alma's daughter, named Manon after Walter's mother, was born in 1916. When Manon died of polio at age 18, in 1935, composer Alban Berg wrote his Violin Concerto in memory of her (it is inscribed "to the memory of an angel"). Gropius and Mahler divorced in 1920. (She had by that time established a relationship with Franz Werfel, whom she later married.)
On 16 October 1923, Gropius married Ilse (later Ise) Frank; they remained together until his death in 1969. Ise Frank was Jewish. The couple adopted a daughter together, Beate Gropius, known as Ati. Ise Gropius died on 9 June 1983 in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Walter's only sister Manon Burchard (1880-1975) is the great-grandmother of the German film and theater actresses Marie Burchard and Bettina Burchard, and of the curator and art historian Wolf Burchard.
Walter Gropius