Haus Pelikan

History: After the fire, a simple replacement was built for the previous building with a garden. In 1452, construction of a new house with a brick basement over a vaulted cellar began; a two-story wood-framed building with a steep roof and a gable crane. The owner was Lienhard Merz (†1506), a powder mill owner and city councilor, whose five sons all died whilst handling gunpowder. In 1550 the Högger family built a se-cond house on the same site. In 1568, this was merged with the building visible today. This was probably commissioned by Hans Schlumpf-Zollikofer, who is named as owner of the property from 1571 and who was then just about to get married. Schlumpf was a successful businessman. In 1589, he bought the dilapidated Johanneskapelle (Johannes Chapel) behind the house from the city for demolition, and had today’s townhouse built as a residence and office, the so-called «Grosses Haus» (big house). His son and later grandson both lived in the Pelikan. From 1635, the house belonged to the Zollikofer family for several decades, during which time the baroque ceiling murals in several room on the second and third floors were added. Architecture: The oriel window was commissioned in 1707 by David Huber. The woodcarver Johannes Friedrich (1663-1731) was contracted to carve a duplicate of the window for the «Hoffman ́sche Haus» in Rohrschach. An interesting detail: The wooden oriel window was originally painted grey-blue, with a paint which was at the time extortionately expensive, whose blue shade came from smalt, the oldest known cobalt pigment. This colour was removed during a renovation in 1905 and the raw wood was varnished. It wasn’t until 1992/1993 that the original condition was restored – as well as the ceiling murals in five rooms. Present-day use: The Haus zum Pelikan belongs to the Ortsbürgergemeinschaft (citizen’s municipality) of St. Gallen. It contains a restaurant, offices and private flats.