Prestressed concrete bridges are one of the defining technologies of high modernism. After World War II, Germany experienced crucial developments in prestressed concrete construction, notably the cantilever construction method. This paper introduces the concept of “design lineages” in construction history. We examine how new bridge designs developed through cumulative knowledge transfer following interdependent relationships between construction methods, prestressing systems, and bridge typologies. The method is demonstrated through analysing the design lineage of prestressed concrete cantilever construction, which revolutionized the bridge design, particularly by enabling fast, economic large bridge construction. Three pioneering German bridges are central to this design lineage: the Lahn Bridge in Balduinstein (1951), the Neckar Bridge in Neckarrems (1952), and the Nibelungen Bridge in Worms (1953). These projects demonstrate increasing innovation, building upon each other, developing new bridge typologies specifically adapted to cantilever construction. Understanding design lineages helps understand design considerations of the past, as the presented approach reveals patterns of technological inheritance, highlighting early prestressed concrete bridges as a defining legacy of modern engineering and building culture.