Two-part apartment house at Brügglerweg 7/9

About the building

On Brügglerweg, on a prominent edge of the terrain, stands a long, light-coloured residential building made of two almost mirror-image halves. It dates from 1932/33, and the city’s heritage office regards it as an early example of the Neues Bauen, the modern movement, in Bern. Horizontal windows cut sharply into the wall structure the building clearly and simply. Two strong cornices separate the semi-basement below and the set-back attic storey with its terrace roof above from the main floors.

Towards the street, two projecting stairwells with tinted glass break through these horizontal lines; together with the downpipes they set vertical accents. The entrances lie under flat, far-projecting canopies resting on square piers. On the rear, bands of balconies partly wrap around the corners.

Design and ownership lay with the Bern architect Hans Weiss. A few years earlier, in 1929, he had built the Meer-Haus at Effingerstrasse 21/23, a commercial building with ribbon windows and an attic storey that the building inventory describes as an archetypal image of Bern’s interwar modernism. On Brügglerweg, Weiss applied this formal language to a “villa block” with spacious flats.

According to the inventory, the quality of the house lies in the careful attention to detail. At the same time it warns that thoughtless changes can harm the whole building, citing the altered canopy slab at No. 7. Other changes are undated. The building is rated as worthy of protection and belongs to the Obstberg building group. Standing in front of it, compare the two entrance canopies.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Brügglerweg 7, 9 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Effingerstrasse 21, 23 (Meer-Haus) · Wikidata: Q138854117