(Insula 1, no. 20) The house opens dramatically onto Via dell’Abbondanza from atop a 1.5m podium, and is accessible via two ramps located at either end of the podium. The layout, and certain decorative elements of the dwelling which were inspired by buildings of Hellenistic ancestry, together constitute an anomaly among the various houses of the city.

The front of the house is arranged round a Corinthian atrium, marked out by 16 Doric tuff columns, around which the residential rooms are laid out. At the sides of the atrium are a couple of facing rooms, and two alae preceded by two elegant columns. In the right ala we find a lararium, a sacellum dedicated by two freedmen of the house to the Lares and Genius of their master, whose name is mentioned in the dedicatory inscription - Marcus.

Consequently, the house is attributed to Marcus Epidius Rufus, whose name also appears on a bronze seal which was found in the house.

The rear of the house is entirely occupied by a large elevated garden, where a brick portico was added in the Imperial era.

Date of excavation: 1858-59, 1866, 1995-96