Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The hotel of the bailli Hoffmann is a historic monument located at 55-57 Grand Street in Haguenau, in the Lower Rhine (Great East). Built around 1770 for François Joseph Ignace Hoffmann, bailli, industrialist and garance merchant, it embodies Parisian hotel architecture between courtyard and garden. The original two-storey building with a vaulted cradle basement had an entrance passage and balconies, while the posterior wing, adorned with rococo stuccos, had a broken sloped roof. The east and west wings, with vaulted basements and modern staircases added later, complete the whole.

Sold in 1781 before the completion of his sculptures, the hotel underwent major modifications: the three central spans of the body of passage and the west wing were raised from one floor probably in the early nineteenth century. Two external stairwells were added in the 19th and 20th centuries in the southern corners of the courtyard. The building has been listed as historic monuments since 30 December 1985, protecting its facades, roofs, and a wooden staircase with balusters located in the wing between courtyard and garden.

The hotel illustrates the influence of Parisian models in Alsace at the end of the 18th century, while reflecting local adaptations and later architectural developments. Its sponsor, Hoffmann, a key figure in the Garance industry — a tinctorial plant that was then essential for dyeing — symbolizes the link between bourgeois heritage and regional economic activity. Subsequent transformations reflect changing functional needs, without fundamentally altering the original structure.

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