Semi-detached house at Gryphenhübeliweg 55/57

About the building

Where Gryphenhübeliweg and Alpenstrasse fork, a plot ends in a sharp point. The double house of 1906 makes use of this shape: No. 55 stands on a rectangular plan, No. 57 on a triangular one. At the narrow tip a tower raises the house, and a polygonal oriel topped by a terrace, both with baluster parapets, makes the narrow end look like the bow of a ship.

The building inventory names the building contractor Ch. Molteni as client, who probably also supplied the design. The rendered buildings have surrounds and storey cornices in red artificial stone and mansard roofs without hips, along with dormers with curved hoods.

Between the storey cornice and the sill cornice, a painted Art Nouveau frieze runs around the house: red and white water lilies with undulating ribbons. It is the most striking detail and easy to see from the street. The building inventory calls it a good, continuous frieze; together with the red artificial-stone surrounds it sets the colour of both houses.

The surroundings are also fully preserved. The plot's enclosure with its garden gates still stands, and towards the lower Alpenstrasse a terraced wall with a cast-concrete balustrade at No. 55 takes up the change in level. This balustrade was restored in 1995. Protection agreements have existed since 1989 for both houses, since 2013 for the garden wall and since 2014 additionally for No. 57.

The house is in the Kirchenfeld-Brunnadern district. It is best seen from the tip of the fork, where tower, oriel and frieze work together.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Gryphenhübeliweg 55, 57 · Wikidata: Q138828867