Katharinenstrasse was probably built in the 11th century and served, among other things, to connect the market to the Via regia that ran through the Brühl.

On the right side of the confluence with the Brühl, the St. Catherine's Chapel was consecrated in 1233, but was demolished after the Reformation in 1546.

On the site of the chapel, a magnificent residential and commercial building was built in which the mayor Hieronymus Lotter (1497–1580) lived.

After the rubble was cleared, the east side and other land lay fallow for a long time.

In the southern part, a six-story apartment block with a public courtyard was built between 1961 and 1964, the west side of which has the house numbers Katharinenstrasse 2 and 4.

On the east side, after Sachsenplatz was closed, the historic Böttchergäßchen, which ran north of the new building block from 1964 with the Penguin Milk Bar, was restored.

The Museum der bildenden Künste, together with four angular new buildings, forms the Museumsquartier Leipzig (fully completed since 2017).