Rue Ganterie in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, is a historic shopping street in the heart of the old town, characterised above all by its houses with visible half-timbering. The Streetline panorama shown here depicts the south side with house numbers 3 to 41, a contiguous ensemble of townhouses along the street. Rue des Carmes crosses the street on the left side of the image, while Rue Socrate joins the street on the right side and continues eastwards.
History and architecture
The street name commemorates the gantiers, or glove makers, who traditionally lived here and gave Rue Ganterie its character as a street of craftsmen and merchants from early on. The buildings date back mainly to houses built between the late Middle Ages and the 19th century, recognisably supplemented by some contemporary infill buildings. While the ground floors have been repeatedly adapted to new forms of business over time, with modern shop fronts and display windows, the upper floors have in many cases retained their original wooden construction and the historical proportions of the half-timbered façades.
Character as a shopping and strolling street
Today, Rue Ganterie presents itself as a charming street with historic half-timbered houses (maisons à colombages), combining medieval urban character with modern retail. The section shown here is characterised mainly by small fashion boutiques, complemented by specialist shops and a bakery on the right-hand side of the picture, and conveys a small-scale, rather local shopping atmosphere. In tourist guides, Rue Ganterie is considered one of the most interesting streets in Rouen’s old town, not least because of the dense row of half-timbered houses and the lively use of the ground floors
At the time of recording, the row of shops includes the following fashion boutiques: Aubade, Marco Serussi, Marie Laure, Florence Kooijman, marie.tralala, GEOX, IKKS Women, de.corp, suite 61, KESA and IKKS Men.
