Clara and Robert Schumann spent their first four years of marriage in the house at Inselstraße 18 in Leipzig, which was built in 1838 according to neo-classical patterns. On Clara's 21st birthday, the newlyweds moved into their first home together in an up-and-coming new district that was developing into a centre of  the book trade. Numerous publishing houses and book printers settled here. In the Beletage, the artist couple regularly welcomed famous composers such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. Robert Schumann composed several works here. In 1999, the Rahn Dittrich Group bought the house and began restoring it in accordance with the requirements of a listed building. Together with the Freie Grundschule "Clara Schumann" and the Schumann-Verein Leipzig e. V., a multifunctional ensemble of museum, event venue and educational institution was created. Its aim is to present the Leipzig period of the Schumanns as comprehensively as possible.

The late classicist town house built in 1844/45 at today's Goldschmidtstraße 12 is the last preserved residence of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Immediately after its completion, the composer moved into the Beletage together with his family. After the Mendelssohns moved in, the house quickly became a meeting place for Leipzig's intellectuals and music lovers. Famous guests came and went: Composers and musicians such as Robert and Clara Schumann, Louis Spohr, Ferdinand Hiller, Joseph Joachim and Nils W. Gade, the Leipzig publishers Hermann and Raimund Härtel as well as Hermann Brockhaus, the poets Hans Christian Andersen and Emanuel Geibel and many others.

The house was threatened with demolition at the end of the 1980s, but was saved and renovated by an association founded on the initiative of conductor Kurt Masur. On 4 November 1997, the 150th anniversary of the composer's death, a museum was opened there. It is the only one in the world dedicated to the composer, virtuoso and conductor. In 2012, the association was transferred to a foundation, which has been the responsible body of the Mendelssohn-Haus ever since.