Width at front: c. 2.20 metres
The cellar, which was part of the House of the Golden Apple, among others, has withstood the test of time and is now located under a new building from the 1950s, which today houses a Japanese supermarket. The Golden Apple House was built in the second half of the 16th century. Over the centuries, various families lived in the house. The inhabitants generally belonged to the middle classes in the Frankfurt Judengasse. The visitation lists describe them as peddlers and hawkers, clothing merchants, or linen sellers. In these lists, the House of the Golden Apple is also mentioned with comparatively detailed information about adolescent and adult sons of the families living there. A coming of age achieved at a certain age was unknown at the time. Sons and daughters were subject to parental guardianship until their own marriage and family founding. Thus, a family, presumably running a small shop, had a 15-year-old son about whom it is only said that he "does nothing". In another family of the house, a 23-year-old son lived, who worked for daily wages; however, it is said of his 20-year-old brother that he "does nothing". This family also accommodated a boy from Worms, who was staying in Frankfurt as a stranger. It is said of him that he carried all sorts of minor things to other houses; he was thus a kind of porter or messenger. The House of the Golden Apple was destroyed three times by the great fires in the Judengasse in 1711, 1721, and 1796. While it was rebuilt after the first two fires, after the fire of 1796, a decision was made for a generous redesign of the entire northern alley area.
Joseph Moses Rindskopf acquired in 1809 plots on which previously five houses of the Frankfurt Judengasse had stood, including the House of the Golden Apple. The associated cellars of these houses were largely preserved and integrated into the new building. The traces of the builder can still be found there today. A construction inscription, a so-called keystone, mentions his initials and the construction year "IMR 1809" in reverse.
In 1860, Isaac Kauffmann acquired the building and started a Hebrew bookstore here from 1861. After Isaac's death on October 19, 1884, his son Ignatz continued the bookstore. In 1900/01, the printing company M. Lehrberger & Co. was added, which was also owned by Ignatz Kauffmann. Ignatz Kauffmann died on December 14, 1913.
In 1913/14, the house was purchased by Louis and Sally Spier, who already owned the neighboring house at Börnestraße 43 on the corner of Fahrgasse with a large shoe store. Louis Spier died on November 24, 1930.
Sally Spier and Louis Spier's son Ernst continued the shoe business in the neighboring house Fahrgasse 144 / Börnestraße 43 but sold the house at Börnestraße 41 in 1931/32 to the spice house Jacob Alsbach, which remained in its possession until 1956. Despite several changes of ownership, the spice house existed until the end of 2018.
The multimedia exhibition, now located in the cellar, presents the current state of research and is constantly being expanded.