The House of Merchant H. Gerlach

Until World War II, there used to stand one of the most elegant buildings in Klaipėda, which was built around the 1870s, at 11 Herkaus Manto st. (former 15 Liepojos st.). It belonged to a renown member of the Gerlach merchant family and secret commercial advisor – Heinrich August Gerlach.
The residence used to be similar to the present day building of the I. Simonaitytė Library, except that it had columns on the second floor. At around the 1910s, the building was purchased by Jakob Jawschitz, a merchant, who dealt in forest wood and owned a sawmill in Joniškė. About twenty years later, his son, Jankel Jawschitz, acquired the building.

From 1923 until 1938, the first floor of this building was rented out to the Klaipėda Region Commandant’s Office. Since the owners were Jewish, Nazi Germany took over the Klaipėda region in 1939 and the building was nationalised. It was turned into a military administration building. In January of 1945, battles took place in Klaipėda and the building was completely destroyed.