Harmelin-Haus, Commercial monument at Nikolaistraße, Leipzig, Germany.
Harmelin-Haus is a five-story, flat-roofed commercial building at Nikolaistraße 57–59, on the corner of Richard-Wagner-Straße, 63 meters long with seventeen window axes on its long side and three on the short side. Its limestone facade is rusticated up to the third floor, where round arches on columns frame reliefs of male heads; two flat bay windows rise over the first and second floors. The fourth floor is smooth and set back, and the rear facing the parking lot has a modern glass facade.
The building was constructed in 1913–14 to plans by Leipzig architect Emil Franz Hänsel for the fur trading firm Marcus Harmelin, founded in 1830. The company was liquidated in 1939 as a Jewish business, and the family emigrated, some members perishing. The courtyard warehouses were destroyed in the Second World War; the main building lost its pitched roof and gained a flat roof and glass west facade.
The name recalls Marcus Harmelin, whose fur firm moved here from Brühl 47 once the Hauptbahnhof works extended Nikolaistraße. On the bay windows, figures frame the letters "MH" on the northern one and the dates "1913-14" on the southern one. The ground floor now holds shops; the upper floors house the Medieval Crime Museum and AdventureRooms rooms.
The building faces Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and flanks one of the northern entrances to the city centre, so it is passed on foot between the station and the Nikolaistraße shopping street. The rear side faces a car park, a gap left by wartime destruction. Retail occupies the ground floor; the upper floors hold offices, the Medieval Crime Museum and AdventureRooms rooms.
The building's two bay windows carry carved figures framing the letters "MH" for Marcus Harmelin on the northern one and the dates "1913-14" on the southern one, marking the merchant and the construction years. The rear facade facing the parking lot is a modern glass wall, a contrast with the rusticated limestone of the street sides.
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