Fontanehaus, Birth house and pharmacy building in Neuruppin, Germany

Fontanehaus is a residential building at Karl-Marx-Straße 84 in Neuruppin, erected in 1788 after the town fire of 1787. It gained a third story and a plastered front facade in 1867; in 1932 the entrance hall was moved left and the ground floor was clad in limestone. The Löwen-Apotheke pharmacy occupies the ground floor, and a memorial plaque at its entrance commemorates Theodor Fontane's birth.

The house was built in 1788 during the rebuilding after Neuruppin's 1787 town fire. The pharmacist Louis Henri Fontane and his wife Emilie Labry bought it in 1819 after moving from Berlin, and their son Theodor was born here that year. In 1826 Fontane had to sell the house because of gambling debts.

The building carries the name of the famous writer Theodor Fontane, whose family lived here and whose connection to this place remains present today. The Löwenapotheke pharmacy on the ground floor with its golden lion sign has been a recognized local feature for generations, linking the town's medical traditions with its literary history.

The private residential areas are not accessible to visitors, but the exterior facade and the historic pharmacy with its distinctive lion sign can be observed from outside. The building sits centrally on Karl-Marx-Straße and is easily reached on foot to get a sense of the architecture and local history.

Contemporary artist Robert Werner Wagner maintains a studio in the same building where Theodor Fontane spent his childhood. This connection between the literary past of the 19th century and living artistic practice today creates a space where history and creative work exist side by side.