The Egyptian house

Art Nouveau and orientalism in Strasbourg

Strasbourg’s Egyptian house was built in 1905 and bears eloquent witness to the eclectic approach to architecture of the time, marked by the development of Art Nouveau and increased interest in everything Oriental. The curious carvings above the ground floor and first-floor windows and the design of the cast-iron balcony railings display the curved designs common to Art Nouveau. The other parts of the house, however, offer more classical design features.

A coloured fresco, Egyptian figures and plant decor

The most striking part of the facade is certainly the great fresco, which stretches up from the ground floor to the top, with 2 magnificent Egyptian figures within a plant decor. Lined on each side by colour-painted columns, the decor contains other full-colour architectural features, both in the portal and in the upper parts of the building.

It should, however, be no great surprise to find a building with such imaginative decoration near to the city’s administrative buildings. When the Germans built Neustadt, the idea was to provide Strasbourg with the buildings required for the new capital of the State which had just become part of the Empire, but also to include residential buildings of distinct appearance, influenced by the contemporary taste for reinterpreting ancient styles.