House Weißes Lamm

Width at front: c. 2.3 metres

The Weißes Lamm was built around 1555 by the Jewish doctor Israel. With a frontal width of just under 2.5 metres it was one of the narrower houses in the Judengasse. Israel had moved to Frankfurt from Ottershausen the previous year. He was one of the poorer members of the community. As one of the two Jewish doctors he worked at a time when the plague was raging in Frankfurt. The outbreak started in 1571 and lasted for over three years. His two sons, who were also doctors, lived in the Lamm with him. They called themselves rofe, the Hebrew term for a doctor. In the mid 17th century the Deutz family moved into the house under Beermann, who came from the small Rhine town of Deutz. In 1694 the family is reported as dealing in tin and copper and engaging in moneylending and moneychanging. The house was destroyed in the fire of 1711 but soon rebuilt. In 1843 the city took it over for demolition.