Sontheimer Straße 7 und 9, double house in Heilbronn, Germany

Sontheimer Straße 7 und 9 is a three-storey brick double house completed in 1902, its street facade divided by a central gable dormer with late-historicist ornament on the window surrounds and lintels. Paired and triple windows are grouped under a plain shared cornice, and the two halves are numbered 7 and 9.

Completed in 1902, the double house held a hairdresser's shop and a grocery in No. 7 and a leather goods shop in No. 9 around 1950; by 1961 No. 7 had Paul Schropp's hairdressing business and No. 9 Gerhard Hermann's radio technology shop. From the 1970s the half at No. 7 operated as the brothel S 7, alongside S 3 in the neighbouring building. The city bought No. 7 around 2000; No. 7 and the neighbouring houses were renovated in 2010, No. 9 in 2015.

From the 1970s, the half at No. 7 was known as the brothel S 7, named after its address, alongside S 3 in the neighbouring building at Sontheimer Straße 3–5. A 1984 brothel guide, Der Strich, described around 20 women working in both houses, which stood directly in front of the industrial railway tracks of the Knorr company. A few doors away, the Regina-Bar survives as the area's last night venue.

The buildings are easily accessible on foot in a quiet residential area with good pedestrian paths. Visitors can view the facade and window details from the street and explore the surroundings at a leisurely pace.

In the basement annex of number 9 is the snack bar Latasch, whose Polish-born owner survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. He later sold the first hamburgers in Heilbronn there. Legends from the red-light era still surround the snack bar, and a few doors away the Regina-Bar survives as the area's last night spot.