The Merchant houses on the Rechter Rottekade reflect the typological development of the Rotterdam dwelling house in the eighteenth century. Building 405/407 is a small merchant house with the characteristic layout of 2 entrances at the front, a functional first floor and the other floors with a residential or domestic function. Building 413/417 is a simpler, double live/work house, directly adjacent to Friends Avenue. Together they form a spatial and historically-functional whole and a good example of the structure and layout of eighteenth-century merchant houses. The Merchant's Houses are truly unique Rotterdam buildings and not for nothing have the status of National Monument, permanently on the National List since 1993. Eighteenth-century heritage is scarce in Rotterdam, moreover, all the original details are in situ and have therefore never left the premises. These oldest buildings of Rotterdam North are located on the former trade river the Rotte and on the Brandgrens, survived the Second World War and the demolition plans of the seventies. Since 1995, the buildings have been owned by Stadsherstel Historisch Rotterdam N.V.