Old Wooden Houses in Lucerne

Old wooden houses are widespread in the alpine regions of Switzerland, but quite rare in the cities. Many Swiss towns and cities have burnt down almost completely at least once, if not several times from the middle ages to the 19th century. Open fires and dust, combined with warm, dry winds (foehn) were particularly dangerous. In order to reduce the risks, the bakers in Lucerne even had an own quarter on the left bank of River Reuss (Pfistergasse) while the rest of downtown Lucerne is located on the right shore.

After several fires it was decided that houses in downtown Lucerne must be rebuilt from stone and equipped with firewalls. When the city was extended in the 19th and 20th century, nobody wanted to go back to old style wooden houses even in the new quaraters where larger distances between houses would have allowed this. Only very few wooden houses located outside the old city ramparts have survived in Lucerne and other major Swiss cities.