Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house at 8-10 Rettig Street, located in Rouffach (High Rhine), is an emblematic building of the Alsatian Renaissance, built between the 3rd quarter of the 16th century and the 1st quarter of the 17th century. This gable-on-street house is distinguished by its ground-chambranled windows, its shingles, and a semi-outwork staircase turret with a helical silt. A rare feature for the time in Rouffach: the accommodation occupies the ground floor, with a kitchen overlooking a well with circular margin.

The building was rebuilt in 1573 by a branch of the Knechtlin family, as indicated by the date engraved on the pedestrian door, accompanied by a wooded shield. Worker marks remain on the silt of the staircase and a window door. The barn, open on the Place du Maréchal-Foch, carries a door in full hanger dated 1598, decorated with a shield with S.B. initials and three cups of arms. A rear wing was added in 1723, as evidenced by a cell pole bearing the names M. H. Bollenbach and M. Schneider.

The property, little transformed since its construction, preserves remarkable elements such as a fence wall with merlons and niches, a carreter door in full hanger, and a pedestrian door in segment arch flanked by carved pillars. In the 18th century, it housed the Zaepfel, clerks of Rouffach over three generations. The house, classified as a historic monument since 1929 (with an update in 2025 for the fence wall and doors), now includes number 12 of the street.

Its history is linked to the Rettig family, which gave its name to the street in the 15th century, a member of which was provost of the city. The screw staircase, rising to the 2nd level of the summit, and the interior atmospheres (such as the Corinthian column of the six-form window) illustrate the architectural refinement of the period. The house, exceptionally well preserved, offers a rare testimony of the Alsatian bourgeois habitation of the Renaissance.

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