The Jewish Museum is housed in the former patrician home of the Rothschild family and in one of the neighboring buildings: Am Untermainkai 14-15. Both neo-classic buildings were built by City Master Mason Johann F. Chr. Hess in 1820/21.1 After purchasing it in 1846, Mayer Carl von Rothschild commissioned the architect Friedrich Rumpf to enlarge the house and furnish it in stately opulent fashion. Rumpf’s décor coined “le goût Rothschild”: the Rothschild taste, which still defines some of the rooms. In 1895 the “Baron Carl von Rothschild Public Library” was established in house number 15 and enlarged in 1906 to encompass the neighboring building. The city of Frankfurt took over the library in 1928 and used it until after the Second World War. The buildings were also used intermittently as an annex of the Historical Museum. In 1980 the city councilors decided to establish a Jewish museum in Frankfurt and commissioned architect Ante Josip von Kostelac to remodel and refurbish the buildings. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the November pogrom, Germany’s first Jewish museum was opened by its founding director Georg Heuberger on November 9, 1988. A wide variety of permanent exhibits documents Jewish life and its history in Frankfurt; there are also temporary exhibits on contemporary Jewish themes and personalities.