Nicolae Bălcescu Street, 2

 Neoclassical (architecture), mixed-used building, listed building / architectural heritage, 15th century construction, 19th century construction

Built 15th-16th century, altered 1800-1825 (Neoclassical balcony with Doric columns), second half of the 19th c. - 1936 (the large store windows).
At the end of the 17th century, the house was owned by the city administrator Valentin Frank von Frankestein, illustrious Humanist of the 17th century, who was also the owner of the house situated next to it, at Large Square No.6.
In the 19th century the house belonged to the Sonnenstein family. The building was purchased from Michael Sonnenstein around 1890 by the Sparkasse Bank, which used the second floor towards the square as housing for the bank's director.
Dr. Carl Wolf lived here until 1919.
At this address, several commercial spaces have functioned over time, some of them remaining reference points in the history of Sibiu trade: Frederich Baumann fashion store, later Baumann & Konnerth, Karl Breitenstain fashion store, A. Mulea fashion house, Karl Engber tobacco and newspaper store, Adolf Hemper watch shop and workshop, Julius Wermescher store, probably the most elegant store of clothes from the interwar period, followed in the communist period by the state store Romarta.
On the side towards the square, Julius Boda Café opened in April 1896. In the interwar period we find here the Oskar Seiser Café.
The building has been home to other institutions over time, such as the Directorate of Public Finance (Finanzdirektion k. U.) or, in the interwar period, the Siebenbürgischer Karpatenverein.
patrimoniu.sibiu.ro/cladiri_en/balcescu/198