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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Wagenführer House is a historic monument located at 5 quai Anselmann in Wissembourg, Lower Rhine (Great East Region). Built in the 4th quarter of the 15th century, it features a square plan typical of medieval houses, with a ground floor in sandstone bellows and floors in corbelled wood strips. Its high-pitched roof and ground crows, one of which bears the date 1490, testify to its Gothic origin. The street side façade retains ancient elements such as intersect guettes and chevron-linked dhuisserie posts, while the entrance passage features a decorated shield and R.R. initials, linked to an 18th century modernization.

The building underwent several transformations, notably in the 1st third of the 18th century, where crossette windows and a monogrammed hanger key were added. Missing inscriptions mentioned dates 1622 and 1727, as well as initials (including S.R.) and a cooper emblem, suggesting artisan owners. The back dependencies, visible on the Napoleonic planes, have been destroyed recently. Classified since 1938 for its facades and roof, the house illustrates Alsatian architectural evolution, mixing medieval heritage and adaptations of modern times.

Historical sources, such as the notes of the scholar A. Schaaf, evoke details that are now missing: a lintel dated 1622, a walled window of 1727, and shields bearing the initials E.F.K. (1820) and C.F.K./J.C.K. (1851). These elements underline the residential and artisanal role of the building, typical of the bourgeois or merchant houses of Wissembourg, a city marked by its commercial past and its border position. The accuracy of its location remains medium (level 5/10), but its official address (5 quai Anselmann) is attested by the Mérimée bases and the town planning plans of the 19th century.

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