Faces Hidden in Baroque Stucco

Standing at the prominent corner where Hauptplatz opens into Sporgasse, Luegg Haus serves as an architectural hinge transitioning the city's central square into the historic ascent. Admire the deep street-level arcades before bringing your focus to the building's exterior. Covered in an elaborate late 17th-century Baroque stucco facade, the walls appear at first glance to be wrapped in traditional floral scrolls and fruit garlands. But look closer at the window surrounds. Embedded directly within the plaster ornament are grotesque anthropomorphic carvings—distinct human faces, wide mouths, and prominent noses emerging from the foliage. This playful inclusion of grotesque motifs was a trademark of Baroque facadism, wrapping older medieval building cores in dramatic, expressive stucco to display wealth and humour to passersby below. Local tradition suggests the name 'Luegg' derives from the regional dialect verb 'luegen', meaning to look or peek around the corner, which perfectly matches both the building's physical vantage point and the secret faces peeking out from its decorative skin.