The white-fronted patrician house at Mengstraße 4 was owned by Thomas Mann's grandfather and is the setting for the novel that won Mann the Nobel Prize in 1929 — Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie (1901). The book traces four generations of a Lübeck merchant family's decline; the rooms, the staircase, the warehouse at the back are all in the novel.
The Buddenbrookhaus has been closed since 2020 for major rebuilding (structural problems forced a full reconstruction). The collection has temporarily moved to other premises in the city; check the current location before going. Once reopened, this remains the literary pilgrimage point of the city.