Maison Pfister
Standing at the corner of Rue des Marchands and Rue Mercière, the Maison Pfister is arguably the finest Renaissance civic building in Alsace — yet most visitors walk past it while heading to the Unterlinden or La Petite Venise. Built in 1537 for a Besançon hatter named Ludwig Scherer, its two-storey arcaded gallery, oriel window and painted medallions depicting Holy Roman Emperors are a masterclas
Reading the facade
The ground-floor arcade of rounded arches was a practical showroom where merchants displayed goods; the first-floor loggia above it is pure Renaissance swagger, its columns and balustrades echoing Italian models that Alsatian merchants encountered on trade routes south. The corner oriel — a projecting polygonal bay window — is decorated with carved foliage and heraldic beasts that reward a close look.
The painted friezes between the windows depict biblical scenes and imperial portraits, still surprisingly vivid after nearly 500 years. Bring binoculars or use your phone's zoom to read the details from street level.
The neighbourhood context
Rue des Marchands (Merchants' Street) was Colmar's commercial spine in the Middle Ages, and several other remarkable houses survive nearby: the Maison Adolph at No. 26, dating to around 1350, is one of the oldest secular Gothic buildings in Alsace and is easy to miss because it has no tourist signage. The Bartholdi Museum — dedicated to the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty, a Colmar native — is a two-minute walk away on Rue des Marchands.
The whole street is best explored with a copy of the free heritage walking map available from the Colmar tourist office on Place Unterlinden, which identifies over 30 significant buildings with architectural notes.
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