Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Hunawihr Town Hall, built in 1517 as evidenced by the armorial stone of its southern gable wall, was originally designed to house the wheat hall on the ground floor and the stove of the bourgeois (common room reserved for the affluent inhabitants) on the floor. Its architecture reflects this dual vocation: an elevated ground floor, ground-lined windows, and a sandstone campanile topped by a hooked arrow. The coat of arms in relief and painted, as well as the engraved shields (including an illegible), underline its status as a major public building since the 16th century.

In 1728 the building became the house of the ediles (Herrenstube), a meeting place for local magistrates, before being transformed into a town hall after the French Revolution in 1789. In spite of changes in the 19th and 20th centuries — notably the modeling of windows and the interior distribution — it retains its traditional structure and its original appearance. The entrance door, in a broken arch with a moulure chambranle, remains a characteristic element, just like the sprocket walls pierced with sled windows and an oculus under the top.

Ranked a historic monument in 1999 for its facades and roof, the town hall illustrates the evolution of communal institutions in Alsace. Its history materializes the transition from an economic and social space (hall and stove) to a symbol of municipal power. Subsequent transformations, such as the addition of a staircase in the 19th century, did not alter its medieval silhouette, preserved despite successive uses.

The location of the building at 1 rue de la Mairie, in a wine village in Haut-Rhin, reinforces its anchoring in the local heritage. The coat of arms and the date of 1517, engraved on the facade, recall its central role in community life for more than five centuries, while its sandstone campanile remains a distinctive visual marker of the Alsatian landscape.

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