In the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg, tall buildings monopolize the landscape. But one kilometer from the European Investment Bank, in the rue de Kirchberg, we come across a house built… on a roundabout. “Yes, it’s funny, recognizes Alexander Hoffmann, one of the three tenants of the accommodation, which belongs to the City of Luxembourg. The members of my family or my friends who discover it for the first time tell me that it is unique to the Grand Duchy”.
But what is the story of this unusual house? Alexander Hoffmann, who moved there four years ago, says the former owner, now deceased, built the house when the roundabout already existed. Viviane, a reader, indicates for her part that housing was already present there “about fifty years ago” and that the roundabout was built “much later”. Anyway, the City became the owner of the house under a deed of exchange carried out in 2010.
But living on a roundabout does not only have advantages. “As there is no pedestrian crossing, it is dangerous to cross the road,” notes the tenant, who is the father of an 8-month-old child. In addition, cars do not see that it is a roundabout and drive in the opposite direction”. He adds that motorists throw garbage on the lawn. But Alexander Hoffmann still seems to enjoy his strange accommodation. He says that he doesn’t plan to move anytime soon.