Älteste Bürgerhäuser von Ulm

Älteste Bürgerhäuser von Ulm line a narrow lane with dark oak timber framing, pale plaster and upper floors projecting about half a metre over the street. One surviving house dates its beams to 1358 and 1359, making it the oldest known example of storey-frame construction. Each of its three timber levels formed a complete frame before carpenters stacked them above one another.

Wooden nails hold the floorboards without a single metal nail, while only one of at least nine original oak posts remains. A massive stone wall from the neighbouring building once served as the house’s gable wall, saving an entire side. In 1466, owners widened the building westward, leaving the gently kinked footprint visible today, and later sixteenth-century work added a small upper room and a new roof structure.

The narrow lane offers a striking contrast between dark timber and light walls, while the surviving beams have carried the house for more than 660 years. Look for the point where the building slips slightly out of line: that bend records the 1466 expansion.