House at Gerechtigkeitsgasse 52

About the building

The street front of No. 52 has four storeys and four window bays. The two central bays project slightly as a risalit; below are three banded arcade piers, above them pilasters and a cornice on paired brackets carrying a large cartouche. At the back the plot reaches Postgasse, where the rear building is No. 45. Next to the house the narrow Antoniergässchen links Gerechtigkeitsgasse with Postgasse.

According to Paul Hofer, Emanuel von Wattenwyl had the house rebuilt after his term as bailiff of Köniz ended in 1760; Hofer dates the facade to about 1760 to 1762. For Hofer only Niklaus Sprüngli comes into question as designer, and he groups the front closely with Herrengasse 4 and Kramgasse 9. The Wikipedia list of cultural properties follows this date and names Sprüngli as the probable architect. The Wikipedia article on Gerechtigkeitsgasse, by contrast, gives 1730 as the building date and calls it Sprüngli's best town house. The staircase is older than the facade: according to Hofer it dates from a remodelling for the banker David Gruner around 1725 to 1735.

Until 1893 the house belonged to the von Wattenwyl family, then to the von Lerber family. In 1910 the association Herberge zur Heimat bought it and opened a hostel, later called Hospiz zur Heimat; according to the list of cultural properties the alcohol-free hotel operated until 1998. The neighbouring house, No. 50, was added in 1942. During alterations between 1925 and 1932 the Wattenwyl arms in the cartouche were replaced in 1930 by the hostel's emblem.

In 1959 Hofer noted that brackets, cartouches and window crowns had been cut back during the 1925 renovation, making them finer but also fussier. The house is a cultural property of national importance. Standing in front of it, look up at the cartouche in the cornice, whose content reflects the history of the house.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Paul Hofer: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern, Bd. II (Die Stadt Bern: Gesellschaftshäuser und Wohnbauten), 1959, S. 112–113 · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Innere Stadt (Ost), KGS 9195 · Wikipedia (de): Gerechtigkeitsgasse · Wikidata: Q19362487 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Untere Altstadt, alle Adressen (Übersicht, ohne Einzelbeschrieb)