House Wertheym

The Wertheym House is a special building in the Old Town, as it was the only one to be saved during the air raids on Frankfurt in March 1944. The building was entered in the register of monuments. The richly decorated three-story Renaissance house has a traditional stone ground floor made of red sandstone. Currently, the building houses a restaurant with traditional German cuisine and the oldest guesthouse in the city.

The building was built in 1400 by businessman Wertheym as a department store in the patrician quarter of Frankfurt. Over the years, it served as a public bath, customs and warehouse in Mainschiffer. In the nineteenth century it became the headquarters and tavern of the city guard.

The reason for saving the building during the bombing of the Old Town was the fire brigade, which kept extinguishing the surrounding buildings and prevented the fire from spreading. This action helped to create an evacuation route for the population to nearby Main.