The first time that the House with Lions appears on the plans of Timișoara is in 1758.[3] By 1818 it is known as Palick House, after the name of its owner.[4] After 1840, the building housed in turn the Zur golden Sonne eating house (English: Golden Sun), the Zur Weißen Hund grocery store (English: White Dog) and the Zur Großen Pfeife shop (English: Big Whistle).[5][6] In 1851, Angelica Palick, who inherited the house, married István Damaszkin from Beregsău Mic. He sold the house, in 1871, to businessman Sándor Weisz, who, for decades, had a famous haberdashery and wholesale business.[4]
Lajos Weisz, one of Sándor's sons, expanded the warehouse on the ground floor and restored the facade in 1906. This is when the emblematic lions on the roof appear.[7] During the socialist period, in the 1950s, the House with Lions was the headquarters of Siguranța (the future Securitate), the cellars being transformed into detention centers.[4]
The house was originally built in the Austrian Baroque style, the round oriel on the corner of the building existing before 1840.[3] In 1906 the facade was redone in Secession style.[5][6] The ground floor of the building forms a socle with bossages. The floor is decorated with pilasters with Ionicvolutes in the upper part.[5][3] Three of the central windows on the first floor are decorated with mascarons. The facade is decorated with plant motifs. At the top is a pediment in which on the shield four swords form the letter "W", the initial of Weisz. The shield is supported by griffins.[2] The pediment is placed on an attic on which there are two life-size lions, from which the name of the house comes, but today they are 70% deteriorated.[7]
