Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The house located at 13 rue Latérale in Riquewihr, Haut-Rhin, is an emblematic building of the 16th and 17th centuries. Built mainly in wood, it is distinguished by its masonry façade on street, its ground windows and its carriageway door. At the back, an inner courtyard houses two-storey wooden courtyards, decorated with turned balustrades and curved poles. A polygonal staircase turret, probably added in the late 19th or early 20th century, completes the architectural ensemble.

The door of the press, dated 1562, attests to the seniority of the house, mentioned as early as 1563 as the house of the municipal butcher (Stadtmetzgerhaus). Sold by the city in 1721, it underwent several changes, notably at the level of its coffers, which could date from the early eighteenth century. In 1833 the building was divided between two owners, and its cadastral plan did not yet mention the stair turret. Ranked a historic monument in 1930, this house illustrates Alsatian civil architecture, combining domestic functions (cell, stable, fenil) and handicrafts (press).

Protected elements include facades with their courtyard galleries, reflecting traditional constructive techniques. The interior distribution has been modified over the centuries, but retains traces of its original use, such as the former cellar in the basement. The wooden outbuilding at the back of the courtyard, open on the ground floor, housed a shed and a fenil. These developments reflect a spatial organization typical of the wine-growers or artisanal houses of the region, adapted to the agricultural and commercial needs of the period.

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