Haus zum Falken

Haus zum Falken, also known as Falkenhaus, stands on Würzburg’s main marketplace beside the Marienkapelle. Its name recalls a fourteenth-century building on this site. That earlier house served as the cathedral parish priest’s residence and was associated with a small falconry. The present building has an early seventeenth-century core. It later operated as an inn and dance hall. In 1751, Barbara Meißner commissioned its distinctive three-gabled Rococo façade from travelling Upper Bavarian stucco artists. The curved decoration defines the building’s appearance. Until the early nineteenth century, the house contained Würzburg’s only concert and dance hall outside the Residenz’s large halls. A bank, textile shop and printing company later occupied the building. Bombing in March 1945 burned out Haus zum Falken and brought down parts of its façade. Rudolf Schlick supported reconstruction for historic preservation. During the early 1950s, the city’s building department rebuilt the façade with historical photographs because original plans had disappeared. The restored façade became an example of historic-building conservation. Since 1952, the building has housed Würzburg City Library and the tourist information office. A Madonna figure stands among the façade’s decorative details. A department store stands on the building’s other side. The 1990s library expansion removed the courtyard behind the building. Haus zum Falken connects medieval origins, wartime destruction and post-war reconstruction within one marketplace landmark.