Samuel Werenfels was a famous Swiss 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...

 architect.

Early life

Samuel Werenfels, son of Peter Werenfels (businessman and leather glove manufacturer) and Catharina Socin, grew up in Basel. He was grandnephew and godson of the likewise named Swiss theologian Samuel Werenfels

Samuel Werenfels

Samuel Werenfels was a Swiss theologian. Werenfels was born at Basel and died there.After finishing his theological and philosophical studies at Basel, he visited the universities at Zurich, Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva. On his return he held, for a short time, the professorship of logic, and in...

. Werenfels was married to Maria Magdalena Strübin.

Career

As an architect, he was renowned for his Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 designs, an 18th century French art and interior design style.
In 1743 he joined the Gesellenbruderschaft der Spinnwetternzunft in Basel and became master craftsman in 1748. In 1788 he became mill inspector and from 1794 master-workman in Basel.

The buildings erected in Basel and the surrounding area according to Werenfels' plans, testify his stylistic continuousness to the contemporary Alsatian architecture.
Together with Johann Jacob Fechter (1717–1797) and Ulrich Büchel (1753–1792), Werenfels was one of the most distinguished architects and master builders in Basel during the 18th century.

Basel

• Das Blaue und Das Weisse Haus
  The Blue and The White House
  The Blue and The White House are two town mansions in the city of Basel.The semi-detached baroque mansions on the Rheinsprung 16 and 18 in Basel, also known as “The Reichensteinerhof” and “The Wendelstörferhof”, were built by the architect Samuel Werenfels for the brothers Lukas and Jakob Sarasin...
  
  
• Landhaus Ryhiner-Blech (1751)
• Haus Zum Delphin (1760)
• Haus Zum Dolder (1761)
• Posthaus (1773), today this is called the Stadthaus.
• Falkensteinerhof (1779)

Surrounding Area

• Landhaus Bruckgut
  Bruckgut (Münchenstein)
  The Bruckgut estate lies at the foot of the hill, below the village centre of Münchenstein, in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.The Bruckgut farming estate is listed as a heritage site of national significance.-Geographical location:...
  
   in Münchenstein
  Münchenstein
  Münchenstein is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland.-Historical records:Münchenstein is first mentioned in 1196 as Kekingen. In 1270 it was mentioned as Geckingen and in 1279 as Munchenstein.* 1259: The hamlet and the mill, between "Neue...
  
   (1758–1761)
• Schloss Ebenrain
  Schloss Ebenrain
  Schloss Ebenrain is a former country residence in Sissach, in the canton of Basel-Country, Switzerland. Built in 1774-1776, it is considered the most significant late baroque residence in northwestern Switzerland. It is now a public facility and the site of an agricultural school...
  
   in Sissach
  Sissach
  Sissach is a municipality and the capital of the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Sissach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 28.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 46.6% is forested...
  
  (1776)

Literatur

• E. Blum and Th. Nüesch, Basel Einst und Jetzt, 1913, Verlag Hermann Krüsi, page 61
• Dorothee Huber, Architekturführer Basel, 2nd edition 1996, Architecture Museum Basel, ISBN 3-905065-22-3, pages 74 to 75
• Das Bürgerhaus in der Schweiz, Band XXIII - Kanton Basel-Stadt, 3rd part and Kanton Basel-Land, 1931, Orell Füssli Verlag, pages 24 to 26
• Emil Major, Bauten und Bilder aus Basels Kulturgeschichte, 1986, Verlag Peter Heman Basel, ISBN 3-85722-010-5, pages 136 and 139