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Origin and history

The house at 34, Quai des Batliers in Strasbourg, built in the 2nd half of the 18th century (1748-1749), is a bourgeois building emblematic of the Regency style. Its facade, adorned with a balcony of ironwork supported by abundant horns, bears the coat of arms of noble families linked to local history: the Fürstenberg (Bishops of Strasbourg in the seventeenth century), the Margraves of Baden-Baden, and the Counts of Nassau. These coats of arms, added between the 19th and 20th centuries, evoke the alleged former owners of the site, although their direct connection to the present house remains uncertain. Originally, the building replaced an older, perhaps medieval, structure, as evidenced by re-used elements (archive of the 16th or 17th century).

The house, originally named "Zum Seidenfaden" (Au Fil de Soie) and numbered 10, is associated with the birth of Abraham Dürninger (1706), founder of the economic enterprises of the Moravian Church, although its present façade dates back to 1748. Owned by the boilermaker Gottlieb Gentschl after its reconstruction, it was allowed to be modified in July 1748 to include a balcony. The building, which was listed as historical monuments in 1937, survived the 1944 bombings with minor damage. His court used to house artisanal workshops (security, laundromat), now replaced by premises dedicated to screen printing.

Architecturally, the house is distinguished by its broken long-paned roof, sandstone-chambranled windows, and its wooden staircase with rock decorations. The wings in return, rebuilt in 1954 by architect Théo Berst, replaced the back galleries threatened with ruin. The coat of arms of the facade, absent from the first photographs (before 1870), were later added to highlight the historic prestige of the site. The axial passage on the ground floor, typical of Strasbourg bourgeois houses, leads to a staircase whose rectangular balusters recall the influence of the Regency style.

The site is linked to the episcopal history of Strasbourg: in the seventeenth century, it would have belonged to the court of Baden-Baden (Hôtel de Baden-Baden), before being acquired in 1741 by Cardinal Rohan as an annex to the episcopal palace. However, by the mid-18th century, the house was a private property, reflecting the economic dynamism of Strasbourg, then a free imperial city. The relief plans of 1725 and 1830 attest to its transformations, while the archives reveal its mixed use (housing, crafts) until the 20th century.

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