Ornate calligraphy on facade of Haus zum Apfelbaum (Apple Tree House) in the Altstadt or old town at Schaffhausen, northern Switzerland. It records the house's known history from 1640 onwards, including a period when it was owned by the uncle of renowned Swiss Neoclassical sculptor, Alexander Trippel (1744-1793).
Schaffhausen, northern Switzerland: the complete known history from 1640 to 1978 of Haus zum Apfelbaum (Apple Tree House) is recorded, in German, in beautiful ornate calligraphy inscribed on its facade in Beckenstube in the Altstadt or old town. The elaborate hand-painted lettering, in three paragraphs or registers above and below the mullioned windows, is signed by Walter Schlatter-Diethelm, a master plasterer born in 1927 who eventually owned a major local specialist construction and plastering company, W. Schlatter-Diethelm AG. Referring to the long-lived apple tree which gave the house its name, the inscription concludes with a sentence that translates: “If the blossom of the apple tree lasted longer than a few days we would not love so dearly”. The historical record begins in 1640, when the house was owned by Ludwig Stammer. Fifty years later, in 1690, one of his descendants sold it for 1,800 guilders to a teacher, bailiff and master of the shoemaker’s guild, whose son, Johannes Löw, was a watchmaker. In 1778, the house passed to the uncle of Alexander Trippel (1744-1793), an internationally recognised Swiss Neoclassical sculptor who lived and worked at various times in London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris and Rome. He is best known for his busts and equestrian statues of leading political and artistic figures of his time. The house later had various owners until 1926, when it passed into the hands of the Römisch-katholische Genossenschaft für die Armen (Roman Catholic Society for the Poor). The streets of Schaffhausen’s old town are lined with numerous fine Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque guild and merchant houses, many with decorative oriel windows and some with sculptured portals and facades covered with Renaissance and later frescoes and inscriptions.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen canton, Switzerland
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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