The Stadtwaage (weigh house) at No. 13 Langenstraße is the building in which the municipal weighing scales used to be housed. The facility was created in order to levy taxes and excise duties while protecting merchants and customers against fraud and dishonesty.A historical document from 1330 mentions a weigh house where all the merchants and tradesmen had to weigh their goods. From 1440 or even earlier, the building was situated in Langenstraße, one of the main Bremen thoroughfares. Between 1586 and 1588, a new building was erected on the same site by Lüder von Bentheim.[1] Built of brick in the Weser Renaissance style, it was decorated with sandstone ornaments. Pilasters sprang up from each of the gable ledges while the windows were surmounted with shell-shaped ornaments. Above the second-storey window, there was a putto frieze depicting figures. A sign with a golden balance symbolised the building's role. From the street, the building was accessed through two round arches. The upper storeys consisted of storage rooms for the city council's grain reserves. The weigh house was in use well into the 18th century. From 1877, the tax and excise offices were housed in the building, together with the land-registry office until 1925.