Ruffinihaus, Heritage commercial building at Rindermarkt, Münchner Altstadt, Germany.
The Ruffinihaus is a commercial building on Sendlinger Strasse in Munich's old town, made up of three connected sections arranged around a triangular courtyard. It rises four stories and features bay windows and stucco decoration across its street-facing facades.
Gabriel von Seidl designed the Ruffinihaus between 1903 and 1905, building it on the site of the medieval Ruffiniturm, a tower that had been part of Munich's old city defenses. The tower was demolished to make way for the new building, which kept the name of the structure it replaced.
The facades of the Ruffinihaus are decorated with frescoes showing scenes from Munich's crafts and urban life of past centuries. Passersby on Sendlinger Strasse can take in these paintings directly from the street without entering the building.
The building sits on Sendlinger Strasse, a pedestrian street in the heart of Munich's old town, making it easy to approach on foot from all directions. The exterior facades and the courtyard can be seen at any time of day, as the building opens onto a public walkway.
Although the Ruffinihaus is a single continuous structure, its differently designed facades and uneven roofline make it look like three separate buildings standing side by side. This effect was intentional, meant to give the building the look of a block that had grown over time rather than been built all at once.
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