Hotel National

About the building

Walking from the station to Hirschengraben, you see on the corner of Maulbeerstrasse a massive four-storey building under a tall mansard hip roof. The sandstone street facades are Neo-Baroque; the five-bay main front carries a tall, curved gable, and pilasters and two-storey round-arched windows emphasise the central section. To the north-west a lower hall wing with tall round-arched windows adjoins it.

This was formerly the site of the Maulbeerbaum inn and brewery. According to the building inventory the present building was erected in 1911/12 as a clubhouse with a concert and theatre hall for the Typographia Bern, the local printers' association; the architect was Gottfried Läderach, who also designed the adjoining houses. The hotel itself names the Swiss Typographers' Union as the builder and dates the laying of the foundation stone to 1908. The house opened in 1912 as Hotel Monbijou and was renamed National in 1918.

At first the hotel played only a minor role: according to the inventory there were guest rooms only on the third floor, where the reception was also located. The main business was the hall and the restaurant. Later all floors above the first were converted into hotel rooms, and the hall foyer, recognisable on the facade by the wide balcony, was partitioned for the reception. A cinema was added in 1956 according to the inventory; the hotel speaks of the Alhambra cinema, which opened two years after the 1956 renovation. In 1961 the bank SBG acquired the property.

Together with the Bierhübeli, the building has, according to the inventory, one of the most important medium-sized halls in Bern, and the theatre hall is still used for concerts and events. One detail from the time of construction is the lift: the house had a scissor-gate lift with a wooden cabin from the start, overhauled and returned to its original condition in 2012/13.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Hirschengraben 24 / Maulbeerstrasse 3 · Hotel National Bern: Unsere Geschichte · Wikidata: Q112013465