Rue Sainte-Claire

Rue Sainte-Claire is defined by its long rows of stone arcades, which stretch along the street and sheltered pedestrians and merchant stalls starting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This design appeared after a series of fires in the fifteenth century destroyed the city's earlier timber-framed houses. The Duke of Savoy mandated that new buildings be constructed of stone to prevent such disasters from recurring, leading to the arcaded facades that distinguish this thoroughfare from other parts of the old town today.