text: Civil and military architecture The old town comprises a large number of medieval and Renaissance buildings. The quai des Tanneurs ("tanners' quay") is one of the most picturesque streets in Alsace. A stream used to flow in the middle of the street until the beginning of the 20th century, the relic of a former noxious-smelling trade, since tanning required large amounts of flowing water for treating and washing animal skins. Most of the old tanner houses date back to the Middle Ages and have a tall attic to provide a ventilated space for drying leather. In the neighbouring streets, rue des Oies ("geese street") and rue des Veaux ("calf street"), many houses were covered with a coat of plaster in the 19th century to hide the timbering, which was considered too rustic.
  Several hôtels particuliers (large townhouses) date from the Renaissance. Most of them have oriel windows that are characteristic of German Renaissance architecture. The grandest of these hôtels belonged to the Ebersmunster abbey and it has a large three-story granary. The Ziegler house has a beautiful oriel that shows the interest of the elite of that time in Antiquity. The oriel partly reflects Vitruvius's architectural legacy and displays the portraits of four key figures of Antiquity. Baroque architecture is visible on some later hôtels dating from the 17th and 18th century. French classical architecture and its main feature, the mansard roof, were largely employed in the 18th century. To reduce costs, buildings were still built with timber framing, but as this technique was considered too Germanic and rustic, they were often covered with a rendering imitating stone.
  The German period (1871–1918) left some examples of Wilhelminism in the city's architecture. This prestige-oriented style is a mixture of various earlier styles, including Romanesque, Gothic and neoclassical. Noteworthy are the post office (1884), the courthouse (1900), the lycée Koeberlé (1913) and the water tower (1906). The latter (height: ) was largely inspired by the water tower in Deventer, Netherlands.