The Frank von Frankenstein House at Piața Mare 6 is one of two adjacent namesake buildings facing the Large Square in the historic center of Sibiu. Both belonged to the 17th-century Saxon statesman and humanist Valentin Frank von Frankenstein, but each developed differently over time, with its own architectural changes, occupants, and uses.
The house at Piața Mare 6 preserves substantial fabric from a medieval residence dating back to the 15th century. Its vaulted cellar and a stepped gable concealed within the present roof survive from this early phase, while later rebuilding gradually changed the appearance of the street façade. A drawing from 1703 shows a ground floor and upper story with eight window bays and a central entrance, but subsequent alterations reduced the number of bays and shifted the entrance passage toward one side.
By the 19th century the house had become increasingly commercial, with J. Franz Zöhrer opening a clothing and perfume shop here in 1840. Three years later he also became the Sibiu representative of Assicurazioni Generali of Trieste, bringing an early insurance business into the building. A much larger institutional change followed in 1884, when the Hermannstädter Allgemeine Sparkasse moved its headquarters here, making the house one of the bank’s principal properties in the center of Sibiu.
The Sparkasse shared the building with a changing group of shops and offices facing the square. A jewelry store occupied one side of the entrance passage, while a café operated on the other, and the Sibiu Bar Association also maintained offices here in the early 20th century. The iron entrance gate still preserves the initials HAS, recalling the period when the Hermannstädter Allgemeine Sparkasse occupied the property.
During World War II the building was used by the police headquarters, and after the Sparkasse was dissolved in 1948 its former premises passed to the Union of Consumer Cooperatives. A branch of the Romanian Savings Bank later occupied part of the ground floor, followed from the 1970s by the Perla confectionery.
