Kleines Riesenhaus, Innsbruck

The Kleine Riesenhaus is a four-storey corner building in Innsbruck’s old town, standing at the junction of Stiftgasse and Hofgasse. Gregor Türing, the court master builder, designed it between 1529 and 1532 for Wilhelm Putsch, a court chancery scribe, replacing an earlier 15th-century house. Around 1680 the interior was remodelled in the Baroque style, giving the building its present character. The house is notable for its two striking oriels: one chamfered on the side façade and another rectangular at the corner. The round-arched entrance on Stiftgasse is framed by 17th-century stucco and topped with the owner’s heraldic cartouche. Above the entrance on Hofgasse a fresco shows Maria with Child, while the gable end depicts the court dwarf Thomele. Inside, a ribbed cross-vaulted passage leads to a grand two-flight staircase of about 1680, its barrel-vaulted flights and delicate cross-vaulted landings. All floors retain original nail-sandstone doorways from the 16th century, and the ground floor is uniformly vaulted in barrel form. The upper corridors also preserve cross-vaulted ceilings, linking the building’s historic rooms.