An old Gasthof in Wien has the name "Zum Goldenen Pelikan". I notice that "zum" appears on quite a few buildings.
Can someone please tell me what "zu" means in this context? I tried Duden online for "zu" but the only thing I could find was a rule about capitalisation.
Großschreibung als erster Bestandteil eines Gebäudenamens [Regel 150]:
Zum Löwen (Gasthaus)
Zur Alten Post (Gasthaus)
das Gasthaus [mit dem Namen] »Zum Löwen«, »Zur Alten Post«, aber das »Gasthaus zum Löwen«
The DWB entry for zu might be one of the longest dictionary entries ever written. There is a section on the locational meaning (i.e. indicating a place) of the preposition zu under (C.) III. This usage should be familiar to native speakers from biblical language.
da Jesus geboren war zu Bethlehem
und es begab sich, als er zu Tisch saß im Hause
To language learners, it should be familiar from the exceptional use of zu in
ich bin zu Hause
Also, as has been mentioned already, there is the
Universität zu Köln
Then, there's names of nobility
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (after the family castle)
The use of zu for regular names as well as inns and taverns derives from the locational use, indicating where the establishment in question is located:
Gasthaus zur Mühle, zur Linde, zum Winkel
With the noun referring to the place the inn is found, e.g. next to a mill. All of these are also found in family names (written as Zurmühle(n), Zurlinde(n), Zumwinkel).
If there is no mill or tree next to the inn, the sign on the outside can substitute. This is how you get:
zum Löwen, zum Schwan(en), zur Krone
(As the adverbial preposition has been reanalysed as part of a name, the zu is now often capitalised.)
Finally, in analogy to those names, you get names such as:
Zur schönen Aussicht
In short: The meaning of to in these examples is originally at, indicating a place. This usage is preserved in biblical usage and family names. While this meaning is no longer current, it became the standard for naming restaurants and hotels and is productive in this function.
Hausnamen werden bzw wurden oft so gebildet. So gibt es in Prag ein "Haus zur Steinernen Glocke", oder in Wien das "Haus zur Kleinen Presse". Allgemein erhalten haben sich diese Hausnamen heute nur bei den Namen und Schildern von Wirtshäusern ("Gasthof zum Wilden Adler") und Apotheken ("Apotheke zum Grünen Kreuz").
An important point not mentioned so far is:
In mediaeval times in central Europe it was common practice in towns to mark each house with a sign (painted or sculuptured) of some easily recognisable object. That's because the concept of street names plus house numbers was not yet established, not least because literacy was not common.
So, in order to help people find a certain house, they put these signs on, e.g. an eagle, a linden tree, a deer, a boar, a hare, an oxen, a leave of clover, a crown, and so on.
Whoever asked for a certain house could thus easily be directed:
"Go to the two oxen, turn left, and then look for the golden crown."
Nowadays these names are sometimes forgotten for ordinary houses (or the houses themselves disappeared anyway), but they are well preserved in the names of pubs (Wirtshäuser). You would typically say:
"Morgen um 5 treffen wir uns im Roten Ochsen."
(Tomorrow 5 p.m. let's meet in the "Red Oxen" pub.)
Or:
"Die Hochzeit finden im Gasthaus zum Roten Ochsen statt."
As Ingmar mentions, "zum" is more naturally applied, when relating to signs. Flat tin signs or even simply painted inscriptions (or neon signs) are relatively new. Earlier these were quite elaborate signs made from iron and even three-dimensional (search for "Wirtshausschild" in google pictures, flickr etc.) So to go "to the golden pelican" is a fully plausible phrasing and it remains to clarify, why the building itself so often keeps the "zum".
In diesem Kontext bedeutet das "zu" = to.
Das "zum" im Gasthof zum Goldenen Pelikan ist eigentlich zu + dem (kurz zum).
Die wörtliche englische Übersetzung würde also wie folgt lauten:
Inn to the golden pelican
