What a More Than 600-Year-Old Romanian House Still Used as a Home Looks Like

At 16 Avram Iancu Street, near Sibiu’s Great Square, stands a medieval house that has remained in use for more than six centuries. Böbel House dates from the 14th century and is considered the oldest house in Romania still used as a residence, Click! reported.

The building has a basement, a ground floor, three rooms and a passage leading to the courtyard. Its features reflect several periods of construction. The original Gothic gable dates to the 14th century, while alterations in the following century changed its shape and extended the roof. A cylindrical vault covers the passage beneath the gable, and the same medieval design appears in the basement. Outbuildings were added at the rear in the 18th century.

The documented history of its owners begins in the 15th century, when the house belonged to Neugeborn, a craftsman or merchant. Around 1850, it passed to Johann Böbel, master of Sibiu’s bakers’ guild. His name has remained attached to the property. Later owners included Alois Gerzer, Franz Reissenberger and Julius Steiger. After World War I, the property belonged to lawyer David Samson.

The house also served commercial and craft purposes. The Böbel Winery operated there until the end of the 19th century. In 1919, the building housed a locksmith’s workshop, followed later by a bookbindery and, briefly, the Oastea Domnului printing house.

A new chapter began in 1941, when Octavian L. Veștemean bought the house and moved his First Romanian Stamp Factory there. In 1949, he donated the printing operation to the state, allowing the property to avoid nationalization. He later continued working in bookbinding.