Chambre de commerce et d'industrie La Neubau (Chamber of Commerce)

The oldest Renaissance building in Strasbourg

Most of the Free City’s centres of power in the Middle Ages, such as the Mint, the Chancery and the Town Hall, were to be found on and around place Saint-Martin. As the existing town hall was becoming too small for its purposes, work started on a new building in 1583, to be finished in 1585. Now occupied by the local Chamber of Commerce, its name, Neubau, means new building in German.

It is the oldest Renaissance building in Strasbourg and stands out from other buildings from the same period, which were mainly built in the Gothic style. It was also the first building in the city to have been entirely constructed in stone.

The Chamber of Commerce and industry, the landmark building of place Gutenberg

Its Classical-style facade is the only part of the original 16th century buildings still remaining and it rises up over 3 levels, decorated by Greek-style columns, its roof dotted with gabled dormers. The building gives onto place Gutenberg (which has had the name since 1840), through a large doorway surmounted by a triangular pediment. Above the capitals crowning the columns on the facade can be seen carvings of men’s heads, representing the guilds, which were all-powerful in Strasbourg when it was a free city.

The building was pillaged and burned down during the French Revolution, leaving just the facade. It was rebuilt in 1802 in the same style as the original building, to house the Chamber of Commerce, before being extended in the late 19th century. The facade and the roof were extensively restored in 2005.