Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The building on the 11th, Quai des Batliers is an architectural complex composed of several buildings (A, B, C, D) erected between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The main body (A), made of crepy brick, has a platform façade adorned with a rectangular oriel resting on a false vault carved of human heads, as well as a vaulted passage on the ground floor. A polygonal staircase turret, added in 1618 (dated engraved on a door), serves the floors where Renaissance elements remain as a doric column dated 1598 and a faience stove of 1872. The wing (C), made of wood, and the building (B), restored after the removal of garages, complete this complex marked by transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The property, originally owned by the Kugler family (attested in 1587), passed to the Frid (Strasbourg notables) in the 17th century, then to the Blumer in the 19th century, who installed a parquet factory there and modernized the interiors. In the 20th century, the building houses artists such as Louis Blumer and Louis-Philippe Kamm (1941–1959), as well as Lucien Blumer's workshop (transformed in 1924 by architect Théo Berst). Ranked a historic monument in 1997, it preserves Renaissance remains (column room, marble fireplace) and traces of industrial activities (pipe making in 1896).

The architecture reflects the urban evolutions of Strasbourg: the golden and turret illustrate the Renaissance influence, while the inner courtyards and the well of 1714 bear witness to the domestic and artisanal organization of the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. The building (D), at the bottom of the plot, with its prominent chambranle windows, could date from the early eighteenth century. The task marks, the 19th century wallpapers (disappeared) and the stained-glass windows signed "PB AC" highlight the heritage wealth of this place, linked to the social and economic history of Strasbourg.

The successive transformations — demolition-reconstruction of the wing (C) in 1885, industrial developments (1871, 1896), conversion to garages (1950) — reveal the adaptation of the frame to changing needs. The signed glass door and carved wooden staircase (use of unknown origin) add to its eclectic character. The building, private property, thus embodies almost five centuries of history, from Renaissance merchants to modern artists, through the Alsatian industrial era.

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