Fountain pump house on Brunnmattstrasse

About the building

Among newer housing in the Mattenhof district, a half-timbered house with a strikingly high roof, hipped on all sides, stands at Brunnmattstrasse 10. It rests on a masonry base, wooden galleries run along the north and south sides, and on the south there is a limestone fountain trough. The house looks out of place in its surroundings – and precisely for that reason it recalls how much the district has changed.

It was built in 1585 to give Bern more drinking water. The city was growing and its fountains were no longer enough. But water from the springs on the Gurten and in the Brunnmatt had to be lifted into the fountain house of the Küngsbrunnen, about ten metres higher, from where it flowed down into the city. After several failed attempts, Niklaus Strasser, pastor at Stallikon in the canton of Zurich, demonstrated a solution that worked: three water wheels arranged one behind the other drove six force pumps. The energy came from a channel of the Stadtbach whose water dropped here. The drinking water reached the city through wooden pipes known as Deuchel.

In 1730 the fountain house had to be largely renewed for greater capacity, reusing parts of the old building. In the 19th century the engineering firm Louis Giroud of Olten installed a new pumping plant with a horizontal water turbine and four piston pumps; Wikipedia gives 1881 for this in its text and operation from 1885 in its introduction. In 1911 the pumping station was shut down, because Bern now drew its water from new springs in the Emmental and from groundwater near Uttigen.

The house belongs to the city of Bern; a kindergarten occupies the upper floor. It was renovated in 1981. The old machinery in the basement was brought back into working order by volunteers and has been open as a small museum since February 2024. According to Wikipedia this went back to an association founded in 1981; the association now in charge, Verein Brunnhaus Brunnmatt, gives 9 February 2022 as its founding date.

A detail to look for: the limestone trough on the south side, a visible reminder of what the house once did.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Brunnmattstrasse 10 · Wikipedia (de): Brunnenpumphaus · Verein Brunnhaus Brunnmatt · Wikidata: Q29651666