Berlin - Nicolai House

(Local Name: Nicolai-Körner-Haus) Berlin's Nicolai House was built in 1709. It was altered by C. F. Zelter and became the residence of the writer, critic and publisher Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, who also had his bookshop here. Subsequently it became the meeting place of the intellectual elite of the day. Among those who frequented the house were the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the sculptor Gottfried Schadow, the writer Anna Luise Karsch and the celebrated draftsman and etcher Daniel Chodowiecki. After Nicolai's death in 1811 the bookshop passed into the hands of his son-in-law Gustav Parthey. In the early months of 1811 the dramatist Theodor Körner lived in the house. In 1814 it became the home of the writer Elise von der Recke, a sister of the reigning Duchess of Courland. In 1892 the bookshop moved to Dorotheenstrasse.

Other houses in Brüderstrasse

At No. 33 lived the Danzig architect and sculptor Andreas Schlüter. At No. 10 is the Galgenhaus (Gallows House), built about 1680, where, according to legend, a maid was hanged for stealing a silver spoon, which was later found to have been trodden into the sand by a goat.