The building was erected around 1898 on behalf of Benjamin Fanger (1860-1930) as a department store, business and residential building. After his death, his wife Fieda and later his daughter Selma Lotte and her husband Moritz Auerbach continued to run the Fanger department store. Later, the Hava, the house of many articles, managed by Max Brecher and Max Rosenbaum, was located here.

The photographer Genja Jonas was born Jenny Jonas on September 2, 1895 in Rogasen/Posen (now Rogozno). She grew up as the second child of the Jewish cigar merchant Simon Sigismund Jonas together with three siblings in Bromberg. She went to Berlin to train as a photographer and worked as a professional photographer from 1912. She then settled in Dresden, like her younger brother Kurt, where she opened her photo studio, called Portikus, at Bürgerwiese 6 in 1918. Genja Jonas quickly became a popular portrait photographer who soon gained a reputation far beyond Dresden, even in Europe.

Richard Steinhart was born in Merseburg on May 26, 1873. His wife Bertha, née Auerbach, was born on September 1, 1875 in the former German district of Tachau. Richard Steinhart was a merchant and successful owner of the Steinhart department store at Kesselsdorfer Straße 17 in Löbtau, which advertised as follows until 1933: „The efficient shopping center for household and kitchen appliances, leather goods, gift articles, toys, linoleum, men's articles, stockings, handicrafts and jerseys“. The couple had three children: Kurt, Werner and Emilie.

Walter Steinhart was born on September 5, 1880 in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, his wife Rosa, née Steinhart, on June 17, 1885 in Tachau/Eger in western Böhmen, now Tachov in the Czech Republic. Rosa Steinhart was the sister of Ida Fränkel, née Steinhart.

The Steinhart department store was located on the corner of Kesselsdorfer Straße and Poststraße in the Löbtau district of Dresden.

About 1906, Richard Steinhart (*26.5.1873) opened a shop for fashion accessories, which later developed into a department store. It offered everything for the modern household. The catchy advertising slogan: "As hard as stone" tells you: "Your department store must be as hard as stone." The sons Kurt and Werner took over the flourishing business from their father.

The brothers Johannes and Friedrich Cruse founded the "Spezialfabrik elektrischer Steuerapparate Gebr. Cruse & Co.“ in 1914 and received the corresponding license with trade license no. 1551 dated 15 November 1914. From 1916, their company headquarters were located at Wachsbleichstrasse 26/28 in Dresden-Friedrichstadt, which they and their 80 employees initially had to share with Arnhold and Petzoldt (safe manufacturing) and later with Maschinenfabrik Kreiselrad and Blumenfabrik Oscar Alexander & Co.

Olga Kussi, née Langner, Nelly Steinberg, née Kussi, Dr. Viktor Kussi, Dr. Werner Franz Kussi, Stefan Manfred Steinberg and Franz Egon Steinberg lived here.

In August 1911, Edmund Kussi (born on March 24, 1866 in Žihle near Pilsen) and his brothers Johann and Friedrich Cruse founded the company ‚RHEOSTAT – Spezialfabrik elektrischer Apparate Edmund Kussi‘. The company headquarters were located at Freiberger Straße 75. Edmund Kussi was also the owner of a dust extraction machine business at Waisenhausstraße 24. In September 1913, they moved the company headquarters to Leipziger Straße 31 in Dresden-Neustadt (site of the former Dresdener Maschinenfabrik & Schiffswerft AG).

In Adolph Lehmann's allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger : nebst Handels- u. Gewerbe-Adressbuch für d. k.k. Reichshaupt- u. Residenzstadt from 1923 contains the following entry: Berson Kautschuk-Gesllschaft m.b.H., distribution of rubber goods with the word mark "Berson", (also English, Italian, Croatian, Polish, Slovenian, Czech, French and Hungarian) VII Zieglergasse 6, capital stock 3,000,000 K, managing directors Julius and Robert Beer, drawing coll.