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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Siegler House, located on No. 2 Church Street in Bouxwiller (Bas-Rhin), is a typical example of Alsatian civil architecture in the second half of the seventeenth century. Built in 1670 by butcher Hans Jacob Siegler, it is distinguished by its trapezoidal plan, its two floors in corbellation and its gable loggia protected by a half-croup. The facades, richly carved, combine atrial motifs, various heads and a finely-worked curule chair, while the cornel post on the first floor features a lansquenet in high relief. This baroque decor, characteristic of the region, contrasts with the subsequent modifications of the ground floor, where the old door windows have given way to a commercial window.

Hans Jacob Siegler, both builder of the building and owner of the hostel At the Charrue, embodied the local bourgeoisie of the time. The house, which has been listed as historic monuments since 1930, illustrates the know-how of Alsatian artisans, including its mixed balusters (squares and turns) and its wooden staircase with twisted core. The latrines on the venal side and the buried cellar are reminiscent of medieval urban constraints, while the closed windows on the floors show later functional evolutions. The building, although redesigned on the ground floor, retains a remarkable stylistic unit, reflecting the fascist of the patrician houses of Alsace after Renaissance.

Classified for its facades and roof, Siegler House is situated in a historical context marked by the reconstruction after the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), when Bouxwiller, then under German influence, experienced an economic boom. Its hybrid architecture, combining Gothic traditions (corbellations) and Baroque ornaments (early motifs), symbolizes the stylistic transition of the period. Today, the building remains a major testimony of the Alsatian civil heritage, associated with the daily life of the corporations — butchers and innkeepers — which structured the urban society of the Old Regime.

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