The house stands by Charles Bridge. This stone bridge, one of the jewels of Gothic architecture, was built by Charles IV, the Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor. The original house stood on the pier of the earlier Judith Bridge, which was swept away by a flood. During the time of the Hussite upheaval it was burnt down, and then rebuilt by Jan Fuchs, a supplier of ostrich feathers, who had the front wall of his house decorated with a pattern of ostriches. It was the first coffee house in Bohemia, selling coffee brought by the Greek merchant, Deodastus Damascenus. The smell of roasted coffee added to the atmosphere of the Prague area of Malá Strana, or the Lesser Town.
