The Whale House

[1] The front wall of the house opens onto the Franziskanerstraße, whilst the rear is on the Gauchstraße, near Kartoffelmarkt square.

After Jakob Villinger received his citizenship, he submitted a request to the city council to start the building works.

[9] The name Haus zum Walfisch is documented in the Herrschaftsrechtsbuch (book of individual properties) from 1565,[10] although the numbering of houses was established in Freiburg only in 1806.

[11][12] The Freiburg historian Peter Kalchthaler suggests there may be a connection between the name of the house and “the Story of Jonah and the Whale” in the Bible.

[13] As recorded on the façade of the building, the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam lived in the Villinger house after his escape from Basel.