The Golden House, also known as Speimann House or Steffens House after its
owners, was built in 1609–18 for Jan Speimann, mayor of Gdańsk and a wealthy
merchant and patron of the arts, and his wife Maria Judyta. The architect was
Abraham van den Blocke, who also executed some of the stone carving. The most
impressive feature of the house is its façade, which is covered in intricate
gilt carvings, and which fortunately escaped the fires that ravaged the building
in 1945.

Today the building houses the Maritime Institute. Local people claim that it is
haunted; in one of the corridors the shining figure of the former lady of the
house, Maria Judyta Speimann, is said to appear and can be heard whispering the
words “A just deed fears no man”.