24. Kammerzell House - 14 Sept 1900 | Glass Plates
The half-timbered Kammerzell House sits on the corner of Place de la Cathédrale, its wooden sculptures gazing across at their stone carved brethren on the Cathedral.
Built as a merchant’s house in the heart of the city’s bustling trading hub, the Kammerzell House’s sturdy stone foundation was laid in 1427. The first additions to the structure were made in 1467, when the stone ground floor was built on the original foundation, and it gained its current appearance in 1589 when it was the home of Martin Braun, a cheese merchant who must have seen much financial success since he purchased it in 1571. It gained its current name from a grocer who lived there in the 19th century.
The Kammerzell House is a rare surviving example of a urban medieval home, particularly of this scale and ornate design. Architecturally it is High Gothic and part of the German Renaissance movement, its seventy-five windows giving the occupant a stunning view into the city square through the stained bottle-bottom glass set in latticework frames.
For whatever reason, the photographer’s list notes the Kammerzell House as being dated to 1587, which is only two years off the date when the timber structure reached its current height. Somewhat more oddly, it notes that it was said to have originally been built in the 1200s, but I cannot find any source mentioning an earlier house before 1427.
The list does, however, note that it has been restored, this restoration taking place between 1891 and 1892 when it was converted into a restaurant. This means that in 1900, when this photo was taken, the restaurant was a new occupant in the Kammerzell House. It remains there to this day.
Who is the Man in the Photo?
Beside the lamppost, on the left of frame, is a man standing and looking at the camera; his posture is posed rather than merely passing by the camera or captured unwittingly. This figure, to me at least, appears to be similar in both silhouette and headwear to the man seen in glass plate 5 at the gate of the Château d'Hougoumont. As there were two photos taken at Hougoumont (4&5) each with a different man posed by the gate, it would not be unreasonable to assume that one or the other is the photographer, but this leaves the question of whether the man here might be the photographer or the travelling companion? Or were they sharing camera duties?
The Second Leg of the Glass Plates Journey Completed
With the Kammerzell House we once again reach the bottom of another box of glass plate photographs. Unfortunately, the next box is missing and as such we shall be jumping from photo number 24 to 37, and leaping from Strasbourg to the Alps…
References
‘The Kammerzell House’, Office de Tourisme de Strasbourg et sa Région <https://www.visitstrasbourg.fr/en/things-to-see-and-do/visiting/places-to-visit/historical-sites-and-monuments/f223009050_the-kammerzell-house-strasbourg/>
‘The Story of a Unique Building’, Maison Kammerzell <https://www.maison-kammerzell.com/en/presentation/>
1900 Glass Plates: This project explores a series of glass plates from the year 1900 with the eventual goal of travelling the same route as the photographer. It will be a varied journey that will stretch from simple blog posts examining each photo to videos and more. This project is in collaboration with photographer Aleksandar Nenad Zecevic, who’ll be restoring the photographs to bring out details dimmed by time. More to follow.
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