Originally from Alsace, Joseph Gutschenritter (1854-1913) trained with Cavaillé-Coll. His mother, born in 1829, was the elder sister of Thiebault Moncourt. Three generations of Montcourts worked at Cavaillé-Coll and it was therefore quite natural that the young Joseph entered this house to complete his apprenticeship. In 1878 he joined Merklin & Co., where he became foreman. In 1898, when Joseph Merklin retired for good, he sold his shares to the two partners who had accompanied him in the creation of his last company in Paris, Joseph Gutschenritter and Philippe Decock, and granted them the commercial use of his name "Merklin". The name "J. Merklin & Cie" of the Parisian company was therefore maintained after the departure of its illustrious founder. After Joseph Merklin's death in 1905, the company remained under the direction of Joseph Gutschenritter and changed the name to include his own. Later, he joined forces with Robert Masset to create the Maison Gutschenritter-Masset. Joseph, his son Gaston (1884- 1949) and Robert Masset (*1910) have been active in the Paris region for almost a century, both in construction and restoration, until 1986. Among Joseph Gutschenritter's best-known companions were Victor Gonzalez (from 1899 to 1905), the harmonist Henri Yersin. In addition, a number of builders (Philippe Hartmann, Edmond-Alexandre Roethinger) were trained and apprenticed there.