Vul. Serbska, 07 – former Castelli townhouse

16^th c. – a two-storied Gothic townhouse is built.
17^th c. – a Renaissance-style townhouse is built on the foundations and cellars of the Gothic townhouse; the third tract (rear house) is added.
2^nd half of the 18^th c. – the fourth floor is added; the façade is designed in the strict Nutzbau-style forms; the ground floor is reinforced with buttresses and faced with hewn white stone blocks. At the same time the entryway is divided; a small separated room is arranged to the left, as well as a staircase.
1870s – the front part of the roof is covered with a fireproof material; a skylight is arranged.
Late 19^th c. – the back part of the roof is covered with tin.
1900 – the four-storied closets are reconstructed.
1903 – the back wing is reconstructed.
1938 – a project of a portal entrance to the shop, located on the right, is designed (engineer Władysław Bleim).
2006 – the wings are dismantled.
2007 – the Sacher-Masoch café is arranged in the premises on the right and in the cellars.

The townhouse is situated on a parcel in the historic center of the city, on a street which begins at the south-eastern corner of the Rynok (Market) square and goes south.

The oldest name of Serbska street, Fori pecorum platea, for the first time mentioned in chronicles under the year 1491, literally meant “a place for cattle trade”. According to a 1523 document, this street was called Skotska (Cattle). At that time Lviv was one of the centers where oxen from Podolia and Moldova were sold. This name, however, applies only to the oldest part of Serbska street which stretches from the Rynok square to Staroyevreyska street. A part of the street, that between Brativ Rohatyntsiv street and the Soborna square, came into being after the town fortifications were dismantled in the early 19^th century. Serbska street has been existing in its present-day boundaries since 1871. During the occupation of Lviv by the Nazi troops it was called Kroatenstrasse (Croatian street). After the war the previous name was restored.

The Renaissance style townhouse no. 7 was built in the 17^th century on the foundations and cellars of the previous two-storied Gothic townhouse from the 16^th century. It bore different names derived from the names of its owners; thus, it was called the Janowa Moskiewka’s house in 1630, the Moskiewicz’s house in 1640-1683, the Castelli (Kashtelivska or Kasztelowska) house from 1684. In the 17^th century the townhouse was substantially reconstructed, the third tract (rear house) and the third floor were added. In the second half of the 18^th century the fourth floor was added, the façade was designed in the strict Nutzbau-style forms, the ground floor was reinforced with buttresses and faced with hewn white stone blocks. At the same time the entryway was divided; a small separated room was arranged to the left, as well as a staircase. In the mid-19^th century the house passed in the possession of Peretz Fischer and Efroim Bombach who were Jews. In the 1870s, according to a resolution of the Magistrate, the front part of the roof was covered with a fireproof material; the back part of the roof was covered with tin in the late 19^th century after a long wrangle with the authorities. The ground floor premises were occupied by shops; in particular, flour was sold in the rear house. Later, Chaim Heschel, a co-owner of the house, leased it illegally to seasonal workers. In 1900 the four-storied closets were reconstructed, which were located in the corner between the north and east boundary walls and could be reached by corridors on the balconies. In 1903 a back wing where the doorkeeper lived was reconstructed too. In 1938 a project of a portal entrance to the shop, located on the right, was designed by Władysław Bleim. In the Soviet time the house’s ground floor premises were used as residential. The wings were dismantled in 2006, and a part of the parcel was merged with a neighbouring plot on Fedorova street where the construction of a hotel was planned. In 2007 the Sacher-Masoch café was arranged in the premises on the right and in the cellars.