The Kleinhesseloher See is an artificial lake and part of the middle English Garden in Munich (600 m east of the Münchner Freiheit). It is located immediately south of the Isarring, which separates Hirschau from the southern part of the English Garden, and is a popular destination.
The Kleinhesseloher See was created in 1803 by Reinhard von Werneck. The lake originally had a size of around 35,000 m². It lay between Schwabing, then a village north of Munich, and Kleinhesselohe, then a post on the northern edge of the English Garden and the entrance to Hirschau to the north. The park ranger set up a makeshift beer bar for workers in the park. The offer was soon expanded to include milk and cold dishes, and the Kleinhesseloher See became a popular meeting place for walkers in the park. A wooden dance hall attracted more visitors.
From 1807 to 1812, Werneck's successor, Friedrich Ludwig Sckell, enlarged the lake to more than double its current size. As a result of the expansion, the lake shore was in the immediate vicinity of Kleinhesselohe; the small beer garden there was the predecessor of today's Seehaus. From 1882 to 1883, Gabriel von Seidl built a boathouse with a restaurant. This was replaced in 1935 by Rudolf Esterer with a new building with a lakeside terrace, which was very popular until it was demolished in 1970. Alexander von Branca emerged as the winner from the tender for a new design. Its design was based on a Japanese village. However, this design was never realized for cost reasons. Provisional buildings stood on the site for fifteen years until the current lake house was built in 1985 according to a design by Ernst Hürlimann and Ludwig Wiedemann.
The Kleinhesseloher See is considered to be a nationally important moulting area for some geese species. Beavers now live by the lake, which has led to conflicts with the Bavarian administration of state palaces, gardens and lakes because of trees that have been gnawed on.