The Alter Schwede — the Old Swede — is the oldest surviving house on the Marktplatz, built around 1380, and one of the finest examples of North German Brick Gothic domestic architecture anywhere on the Baltic coast. It is a tall, stepped-gable merchant house of the kind that once lined every prosperous Hanseatic waterfront: deep red brick, narrow windows, and a gable profile that climbs in steps to a pointed peak. The name references Wismar's long Swedish period (1648–1803), when the town was a key Swedish possession on the German coast.
The building now houses a restaurant on the ground floor, which makes it easy to step inside and look around. The ground-floor interior retains its vaulted brick ceiling, and the atmosphere is suitably medieval. Whether you eat here or not, the facade is worth studying closely — the decorative brickwork and the proportions of the gable make it an object lesson in why Wismar and Stralsund together earned UNESCO World Heritage status.