The Cat House of Riga: the legend, the building, and what to see

The Cat House: Riga’s most charming legend

Of all the stories told about buildings in Riga’s Old Town, the Cat House story is the most reliably told by every guide and repeated in every guidebook. Whether or not it is entirely true, it captures something essential about the social tensions of early 20th-century Riga — a city where ethnic Latvian merchants were systematically excluded from the great merchant guilds dominated by the Baltic German establishment.

The building at the corner of Meistaru iela and Tirgoņu iela was designed by Friedrich Scheffel and completed in 1910. Two black cats, tails curled over their backs and ears alert, perch atop the two corner turrets of the building’s roof. They are watching — or so the legend says — the Great Guild Hall directly across the street.

The legend

The story, as most commonly told: a wealthy Latvian merchant (the name varies by telling — most versions say his family name was Retern) applied for membership of Riga’s Great Guild. The Guild, controlled by Baltic German merchants, rejected him. Furious at the snub, the merchant commissioned a new building directly across from the Guild Hall and had the architect place black cats on the turrets — with tails raised in the feline gesture of maximum disrespect, pointed directly at the Guild.

The Guild members were reportedly outraged. They took legal action. The case allegedly wound through the courts and eventually the merchant was forced to turn the cats’ backsides away from the Guild. Depending on the version, the cats were rotated 180 degrees — or the merchant won the case and kept them in place.

The story encapsulates the real social reality of early 20th-century Riga, where Latvian residents were second-class citizens in their own city, excluded from the most powerful commercial and civic organisations by ethnic German dominance that had lasted since the medieval period. The cats — whatever their actual original orientation — became a symbol of Latvian resistance to German elite power.

What is actually documented: the building was built, the cats are there, and the Great Guild Hall is directly opposite. Whether there was a legal dispute, and whether the cats were ever rotated, is not definitively documented in historical records. The legend may be elaborated from a simpler original dispute. It does not matter much — the story is part of Riga’s cultural fabric regardless of its strict historical accuracy.

The building: Art Nouveau in the Old Town

The Cat House is a late phase of the Art Nouveau wave that transformed Riga in the 1900s. While the most celebrated examples of Riga’s Art Nouveau (the Eisenstein buildings on Alberta iela, Elizabetes iela) are in the Quiet Center outside Old Town, the Cat House shows how the style was adapted for Old Town’s denser, older fabric.

The facade is in yellow-ochre render with ornamental relief work around the windows and the distinctive curved gable lines of the Jugendstil idiom. The corner turrets are the key feature — cylindrical projections with conical caps and, perched at the apex of each, the famous cats.

The building is more restrained than Eisenstein’s most exuberant work — it does not have the elaborate sculptural human figures of Alberta iela 4, for example. But the cats and the turrets give it an immediately distinctive character that no other building in Old Town matches.

The architect: Friedrich Scheffel (1873–1942) was a Riga-based architect who worked primarily in the Art Nouveau tradition. The Cat House is his most famous work, though he designed several other buildings in the city.

What is inside and can tourists enter?

The Cat House is primarily an office building in its upper floors. The ground floor and basement have hosted commercial tenants including a jazz club and café.

Jazz Club Kaķu māja: the basement space has functioned as a jazz venue and café-bar under the Cat House name. This is the most visitor-accessible part of the building. Check current operating status — café and entertainment businesses change; what was there at the time of this writing may have been replaced.

Upper floors: not open to general tourists. The building’s primary use is commercial offices.

The exterior: the main reason to visit. The cats on the turrets, the Art Nouveau facade detail, and the position on the street corner make this a worthwhile 5-minute stop on any Old Town walk. Look up at the roofline from the street corner directly below each cat for the best view.

Photographing the Cat House

From street level: stand at the corner of Meistaru and Tirgoņu ielas and look up at either turret for the individual cat shots.

Wider view including the Guild Hall: step back along Tirgoņu iela toward the Guild Hall to get both the Cat House and the Great Guild in a single frame — the “legend shot” that shows the cats apparently staring down at the hall.

Detail shots: the facade ornamental details around the upper windows are worth close-up photography. The cats themselves, though small, are well-modelled and photograph cleanly.

Best light: afternoon light from the west illuminates the yellow facade and the west-facing turret cat. The building faces roughly southeast, so morning light catches the facade detail best.

The Cat House on the Old Town walk

The Cat House is a natural stop between Town Hall Square and the Cathedral in any Old Town walk. From Town Hall Square:

1. Walk west along Tirgoņu iela
2. The Cat House corner (Meistaru / Tirgoņu) is about 200 metres from Town Hall Square
3. Across the street: the Great Guild Hall (Lielā Ģilde), one of Riga’s finest Gothic buildings and still functioning as a concert hall
4. Continue west to the Cathedral area

For the full story of the Cat House and its relationship to Riga’s ethnic social history, the guided Old Town walking tour includes the Cat House with context that the building alone cannot provide. The Old Town and Art Nouveau combo tour connects the Cat House to the wider Art Nouveau story of Riga.

The Great Guild Hall across the street

Standing at the Cat House, it is worth looking at the building the cats supposedly insulted: the Great Guild Hall (Lielā Ģilde) on Amatu iela. Built in the 14th century (with major 19th-century reconstruction), it was the headquarters of Riga’s most powerful merchant guild and the centre of Baltic German commercial power in the city.

The building today functions as a concert hall. The Gothic facade with its high gable and tracery windows represents the peak of medieval Riga’s commercial ambition. Standing between the two buildings — the Gothic Guild Hall and the Art Nouveau Cat House, separated by 600 years but facing each other across a narrow lane — is one of Old Town’s most compressed architectural conversations.

Frequently asked questions about the Cat House

Why are the cats black?

The cats were designed as decorative elements in the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) tradition — the black colour (achieved with dark lead paint or blackened metal in the original; maintained with dark paint on the current replicas) was the architect’s choice. In the legend context, black cats have additional symbolism in European folk tradition as creatures associated with ill fortune and independence.

Is there a Cat House café?

There has historically been a café-bar in the ground floor/basement under the Cat House brand. Business status changes — check current reviews on Google Maps or Tripadvisor before planning to eat there.

Can I see the cats from inside the building?

The cats are on the roof exterior and are not visible from inside. The best views are from the street below.

What is the Great Guild Hall used for today?

The Lielā Ģilde (Great Guild Hall) is now primarily a concert venue and is used for Latvian National Philharmonic Orchestra concerts and other classical events. It occasionally opens for architectural tours.

Are there other cat-related features in Riga?

The Cat House cats are the most famous, but cat motifs appear in various Art Nouveau buildings around Riga and in the decorative elements of several Old Town buildings. Latvian folk tradition has a complex relationship with cats as both household companions and mythological creatures.