House Goldstein

Width at front: c. 5.40 metres
The Goldstein was built in 1604/05. It was actually a rear building, located directly behind the Birnbaum, which faced the Judengasse. Nevertheless, it was treated as a separate unit for tax purposes and during the house numbering in 1761 it was given its own number. The house sign was probably a picture of the Goldstein farm, which stood in front of the Frankfurt gates. It belonged to the city and was destroyed in 1552. With its frontal width of c. 5.40 metres the Goldstein ranked as a very wide house in the crowded Judengasse. It was mostly occupied by families who were not particularly prominent in commercial or community life. According to the visitation lists the occupants around 1700 were mainly engaged in the cloth trade. One head of family is described as also dealing in fruit, and he was probable involved on a substantial scale in dealing in wheat. Another family is reported as being poor.
In the great fires in the Judengasse in 1711, 1721 and 1796 the house was destroyed three times. It was rebuilt after the first two fires, but after the 1796 fire it was decided to redevelop the entire northern end of the Judengasse on spacious lines, in the course of which the house disappeared finally.