Department store to the ostrich

Built as an Art Nouveau department store "Zum Strauss" by the Jewish merchant Louis Friedländer on the model of the Wertheim department store in Berlin, the Görlitz department store is the only one of its era that still exists today in its original structural form. The building impresses above all with its colossal interior architecture.

The building plans for the „Kaufhaus zum Strauß“ were supplied by the Potsdam architect Carl Schmanns. In 1912, construction began on a steel skeleton building with a façade similar to that of Wertheim. After only nine months of construction, the Görlitz department store was opened on September 30, 1913.