Our panorama presents the northern side of Marktstrasse in the residence city of Gotha. It bears its name because it connects the main market (left) with the new market (right) in less than 150 metres. It was also formerly known as ‘Kleine Erfurter Gasse’. The facades are characterised by a small-town feel and show the diversity of the commercial buildings that have been built over the centuries. As an important shopping street in Gotha’s city centre, it is home to banks and shops. At the time the photo was taken, these were, from left to right: Schuhmode Leifer, Viba (Schmalkalden), Lauter (shoes and bags), O2 ConceptStore, Fielmann, Thalia, Löwen-Apotheke, Tchibo, Sparda-Bank and Telekom. On the right-hand side of the picture, in Lutherstraße, we see the Art Nouveau building of the Sparkasse, built in 1906 by the Berlin architects Erdmann and Spindler.
Otto Böhm House
The Wilhelminian-style building at Marktstraße 11, which once belonged to the grocer Otto Böhm (founded in 1893), stands out in the centre of the panorama. He acquired the previous building in 1906 and had his elaborately designed new residential and commercial building built by Gotha architect Alfred Cramer in 1907-08. The eye-catching feature is the high relief of the three-masted cog ‘Hansa’, the family’s symbol, between the windows of the first floor. The balconies on the left also feature eye-catching reliefs with a rich basket of fruit and fish on the high seas. From 1951 to 1991, the building housed a GDR Konsum market.
