Herrengasse 23 (Bern)
Encyclopedia
The von Wattenwyl house on Herrengasse
23 is a historic building in Bern, Switzerland, named after the von Wattenwyl family who owned it for over 200 years.
The building was constructed during the Middle Ages
, incorporating some older neighbouring properties; these can still seen in the eastern range of the house.
Over time, the house changed owners several times, and various design changes were effected. The first major reconstruction was in 1690, with further changes executed between 1730 and 1740. The most notable of these was made in 1760 by the eminent Bernese architect, Erasmus Ritter, for the building's then owner, David Salomon von Wattenwyl. A fountain by Ritter, in the form of a carved pillar surmounted by a vase, remains in front of the house.
and plaster
work are considered to be some of the finest of the period in Bern. One of the more eminent members of this family and a resident of the house was Philippe Albert de Büren (1678–1756), a member of the Grand Council of Bern
from 1710 and Governor of Morges
from 1723; he employed the architect Paul Hofer to carry out further building work during the 1730s.
Philippe Albert de Büren entertained lavishly in the mansion; it is recorded that one occasion alone, he entertained the Princess of Hesse, who brought with her an entourage so great that it required 77 coaches, 50 carriages and 148 mules to transport it. The size of the entourage suggests that she was Princess Mary
, the estranged wife of The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.
However, despite his high offices and marriages to wealthy women, de Büren was to be the last of his family to reside in the Herrengasse mansion. He died in penury in 1756. Subsequently, the house was sold to David Salomon von Wattenwyl, whose family are now that most associated with the mansion which David Salomon von Wattenwyl had rebuilt.
, seen today, of 23 Herrengrasse was designed by Erasmus Ritter shortly after 1756 for David Salomon von Wattenwyl, who had acquired the property that year. It is probable that the purpose of the new façade was to unify and disguise the various amlagamations and building work which had taken place over the preceding seventy years.
The architectural form selected was the classical North European Baroque
style, typical of the period. The house is considered one of Ritter's most important works. The mansion comprises four floors, the uppermost being an attic in a steep mansard roof. The principal façade is of five bays. On the two floors just above the ground floor, each bay is divided by a shallow pilaster
. The three central bays are given prominence by the addition of capital
s to the central five pilasters. The two terminating bays at two floors above the ground floor are painted in a buff tint, contrasting with uniformity of the grey stone of the remainder of the façade; this again adds emphasis to the central three bays.
The ground floor is rusticated
with a segmented casement window
in each bay. The ground floor elevation is broken by seven shallow protrusions, these support each of the pilasters dividing the bays above. Unusually, the central bay does not contain the principal entrance, this is in the right-hand terminating bay.
On the next floor above, a piano nobile
is suggested by the windows being slightly taller than the casements below and above. The three central windows, adorned with balconies, are segmented, while the two terminating windows have a less pronounced curve to their tops, this accentuates the slightly larger widths of the terminating bays are wider than the central. This rhythm is repeated on the floor above it. The house is dominated by a mansard roof, broken at its centre to contain the segmented pediment which provided focus and prominence to the central bay below. The pediment displays the coat of arms
of the family who lived within. The severity of the mansard is relieved by four oculus
windows; these are placed above each of the bays flanking the central bay.
Baroque ornament on the façade is chaste, and is confined to keystones
above windows, a sculpted
relief swag
above the central window of the piano nobile, the capitals of the central pilasters and the coat of arms within the pediment.
and later, traveled widely as a professional advocate
.
As a result of the French July Revolution
, Switzerland's Liberal Government experienced a period of political instability. and Bernhard Friedrich enlisted 200 to 300 volunteers to defend the city from the attack. He then left Bern for Canton of Schwyz
. After an attempt by the conservatives of Schwyz
to overthrow the liberal government of Lucerne
has failed, Bernhard Friedrich was arrested. However, before his trial, he fled to Lake Como
, and then to Nice
. Following a few years spent in Geneva
, he returned to Bern in 1844. Wattenwyl died in 1881.
In 1930, 23 Herrengasse was divided into letting apartments. In 1942, the ground floor apartment was rented by an American
, Allen Dulles, who had arrived in November 1942, to head the OSS Switzerland field station. Officially he was assigned as a special assistant to the minister, but his real task, as he wrote later was “to gather information about the Nazi and Fascist enemy and quietly render such support and encouragement as I could to the resistance forces working against the Nazis and Fascists in the areas adjacent to Switzerland which were under the rule of Hitler or Mussolini”.
It was no accident that Dulles chose the Herrengasse apartment; the house was located in the medieval section of old Bern that was constantly in a mist of vehicle traffic and pedestrians. To allay any suspicions, a sign at the apartment's door stated: "Allen W. Dulles, Special Assistant to the American Minister." It was, however, the rear and more discreet entrance to the property that was most convenient to Dulles. By this entrance, guests were able to come and go unnoticed. Dulles was also able to use his influence to have the street lights outside the property turned off to assist the secrecy of his visitors. These welcomed guests included spies
, traitors, refugees, priests, exiles and expatriates, anyone who could provide him with intelligence. One of the most distinguished visitors to the apartment was Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a special agent of Himmler.
From his house on Herrengasse Dulles ran an intelligence organization that produced information on Nazi aircraft, V-1
and V-2 missiles, the July 20, 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler, and even the surrender of German troops in Italy
.
Over the centuries the house has undergone many renovations and changed its appearance many times and today it remains, as in the time of Allen Dulles, a building of let apartments. It was fully renovated in 1982. However, it is only since 1906 that it has been possible to view Ritter's Baroque façade unencumbered. Before that time, neighbouring buildings in various architectural styles prevented a full perspective, none more so than an adjoining grammar school with a projecting turret staircase which obscured part of the façade. This was demolished in 1906. The demolition of the large grammar school opened the small square upon which the house stands, thus, 250 years after the completion of Ritter's most important façade it is possible to make a greater appraisal of the building and its architecture than were ever assessed by its architect or his patron, allowing Herrengasse 23 to be considered, today, one of Bern's finest buildings.
Herrengasse (Bern)
The Herrengasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It was the southern most street of the old Zähringerstadt of Bern and ended at the first city wall....
23 is a historic building in Bern, Switzerland, named after the von Wattenwyl family who owned it for over 200 years.
The building was constructed during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, incorporating some older neighbouring properties; these can still seen in the eastern range of the house.
Over time, the house changed owners several times, and various design changes were effected. The first major reconstruction was in 1690, with further changes executed between 1730 and 1740. The most notable of these was made in 1760 by the eminent Bernese architect, Erasmus Ritter, for the building's then owner, David Salomon von Wattenwyl. A fountain by Ritter, in the form of a carved pillar surmounted by a vase, remains in front of the house.
Early history
The house was created, from 1690, by a member of the de Büren family. This was achieved by amalgamating various neighbouring properties and it is from this period that some of the interiors remain. These interiors with delicate geometric panellingPanelling
Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....
and plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
work are considered to be some of the finest of the period in Bern. One of the more eminent members of this family and a resident of the house was Philippe Albert de Büren (1678–1756), a member of the Grand Council of Bern
Grand Council of Bern
The Grand Council is the parliament of the Swiss canton of Bern.It consists of 160 members elected by proportional representation for a four-year term of office...
from 1710 and Governor of Morges
Morges
Morges is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges and is also the seat of the district.-History:...
from 1723; he employed the architect Paul Hofer to carry out further building work during the 1730s.
Philippe Albert de Büren entertained lavishly in the mansion; it is recorded that one occasion alone, he entertained the Princess of Hesse, who brought with her an entourage so great that it required 77 coaches, 50 carriages and 148 mules to transport it. The size of the entourage suggests that she was Princess Mary
Princess Mary of Great Britain
The Princess Mary was a member of the British Royal Family, a daughter of George II and Caroline of Ansbach.-Early life:...
, the estranged wife of The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.
However, despite his high offices and marriages to wealthy women, de Büren was to be the last of his family to reside in the Herrengasse mansion. He died in penury in 1756. Subsequently, the house was sold to David Salomon von Wattenwyl, whose family are now that most associated with the mansion which David Salomon von Wattenwyl had rebuilt.
Architectural appraisal
The principal (northern) façadeFacade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
, seen today, of 23 Herrengrasse was designed by Erasmus Ritter shortly after 1756 for David Salomon von Wattenwyl, who had acquired the property that year. It is probable that the purpose of the new façade was to unify and disguise the various amlagamations and building work which had taken place over the preceding seventy years.
The architectural form selected was the classical North European Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style, typical of the period. The house is considered one of Ritter's most important works. The mansion comprises four floors, the uppermost being an attic in a steep mansard roof. The principal façade is of five bays. On the two floors just above the ground floor, each bay is divided by a shallow pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
. The three central bays are given prominence by the addition of capital
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
s to the central five pilasters. The two terminating bays at two floors above the ground floor are painted in a buff tint, contrasting with uniformity of the grey stone of the remainder of the façade; this again adds emphasis to the central three bays.
The ground floor is rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
with a segmented casement window
Casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
in each bay. The ground floor elevation is broken by seven shallow protrusions, these support each of the pilasters dividing the bays above. Unusually, the central bay does not contain the principal entrance, this is in the right-hand terminating bay.
On the next floor above, a piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
is suggested by the windows being slightly taller than the casements below and above. The three central windows, adorned with balconies, are segmented, while the two terminating windows have a less pronounced curve to their tops, this accentuates the slightly larger widths of the terminating bays are wider than the central. This rhythm is repeated on the floor above it. The house is dominated by a mansard roof, broken at its centre to contain the segmented pediment which provided focus and prominence to the central bay below. The pediment displays the coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the family who lived within. The severity of the mansard is relieved by four oculus
Oculus
An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...
windows; these are placed above each of the bays flanking the central bay.
Baroque ornament on the façade is chaste, and is confined to keystones
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
above windows, a sculpted
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
relief swag
Festoon
Festoon , a wreath or garland, and so in architecture a conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons, either from a decorated knot, or held in the mouths of lions, or suspended across the back of bulls heads as...
above the central window of the piano nobile, the capitals of the central pilasters and the coat of arms within the pediment.
Bernhard Friedrich von Wattenwyl
The Wattenwyl family owned the house for two centuries. The most notable Wattenwyl occupant of the house was Bernhard Friedrich von Wattenwyl, born in Bern in 1801. He received a high quality education in Bern and ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and later, traveled widely as a professional advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
.
As a result of the French July Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
, Switzerland's Liberal Government experienced a period of political instability. and Bernhard Friedrich enlisted 200 to 300 volunteers to defend the city from the attack. He then left Bern for Canton of Schwyz
Canton of Schwyz
Schwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
. After an attempt by the conservatives of Schwyz
Canton of Schwyz
Schwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....
to overthrow the liberal government of Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
has failed, Bernhard Friedrich was arrested. However, before his trial, he fled to Lake Como
Lake Como
Lake Como is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km², making it the third largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore...
, and then to Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. Following a few years spent in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, he returned to Bern in 1844. Wattenwyl died in 1881.
Allen Dulles
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Allen Dulles, who had arrived in November 1942, to head the OSS Switzerland field station. Officially he was assigned as a special assistant to the minister, but his real task, as he wrote later was “to gather information about the Nazi and Fascist enemy and quietly render such support and encouragement as I could to the resistance forces working against the Nazis and Fascists in the areas adjacent to Switzerland which were under the rule of Hitler or Mussolini”.
It was no accident that Dulles chose the Herrengasse apartment; the house was located in the medieval section of old Bern that was constantly in a mist of vehicle traffic and pedestrians. To allay any suspicions, a sign at the apartment's door stated: "Allen W. Dulles, Special Assistant to the American Minister." It was, however, the rear and more discreet entrance to the property that was most convenient to Dulles. By this entrance, guests were able to come and go unnoticed. Dulles was also able to use his influence to have the street lights outside the property turned off to assist the secrecy of his visitors. These welcomed guests included spies
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, traitors, refugees, priests, exiles and expatriates, anyone who could provide him with intelligence. One of the most distinguished visitors to the apartment was Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a special agent of Himmler.
From his house on Herrengasse Dulles ran an intelligence organization that produced information on Nazi aircraft, V-1
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
and V-2 missiles, the July 20, 1944 attempt to kill Adolf Hitler, and even the surrender of German troops in Italy
Operation Crossword
During World War II, Operation Crossword or Operation Sunrise was a series of secret negotiations conducted in March 1945 in Switzerland between representatives of Nazi Germany and the Western Allies to arrange a local surrender of German forces in northern Italy...
.
Later history
In the fall of 1953 the house was offered for sale by the widow of Erich Wattenwyl. It was sold to the city for 1,300,000 francs on February 1, 1954. The price was considered to be very high, but the location of the house with close proximity to the casino and the city library as well as the fine architecture of the house itself played a role in the decision.Over the centuries the house has undergone many renovations and changed its appearance many times and today it remains, as in the time of Allen Dulles, a building of let apartments. It was fully renovated in 1982. However, it is only since 1906 that it has been possible to view Ritter's Baroque façade unencumbered. Before that time, neighbouring buildings in various architectural styles prevented a full perspective, none more so than an adjoining grammar school with a projecting turret staircase which obscured part of the façade. This was demolished in 1906. The demolition of the large grammar school opened the small square upon which the house stands, thus, 250 years after the completion of Ritter's most important façade it is possible to make a greater appraisal of the building and its architecture than were ever assessed by its architect or his patron, allowing Herrengasse 23 to be considered, today, one of Bern's finest buildings.