Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house at 21 Klobb Street in Ribeauvillé is an emblematic building of Renaissance civil architecture in Alsace. Built in the 2nd quarter of the 16th century, it is distinguished by its house in retreat from the street, accessible via an inner courtyard. The façade combines masonry on the ground floor and wood panel on the first floor, typical of the Alsatian buildings of the time. A circular staircase turret, half out-of-work, decorated with carved medallions and an armored shield held by two lions, marks the entrance. The screw staircase, with helical silt, leads to the floors where snout windows and crawling skylights animate the croup roof.

The front door, dated 1539, is a Renaissance masterpiece: its rounded chambranle has human profiles in medallions, while the armored shield carries two star-flanked ecotted sticks, a compass and a mallet, perhaps evoking the job of a cooper. Inside, a cellar door in the middle of a moulded hanger and a central beam supported by octagonal poles testify to the attention paid to structural details. An engraved date (1525) on an inner door of the turret, as well as initials H. D. W. on the cellar door (partly dated 162-), suggest later modifications or additions. The outbuildings, partially destroyed, once included a forge.

Classified as a historic monument since 1932 for its 1539 gate, this house illustrates the mixture of late Gothic and Renaissance influences in the Alsatian bourgeois habitat. Its openwork guard, deposited at the end of the 20th century, awaits a restoration to regain its original place. The north wing, redesigned in the 18th century, and the later openings on the back ditch reveal an architectural evolution adapted to the needs of the occupants throughout the centuries. The house rests on the western enclosure of the old town, highlighting its integration into the medieval urban fabric of Ribeauvillé.

The decorative elements, such as the ground pads, the trilobes and the crosses of Saint Andrew in the wooden panels, reflect an exceptional craft. The staircase turret, covered with sandstone slabs worn by a curved column, and the gargoyle representing a kneeling man add an artistic and symbolic dimension. These details, combined with the cochère door in stoneware, make this house a precious testimony of bourgeois life and local know-how in the 16th century.

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