Rhagor Country House

About the building

On the corner of Schosshaldenstrasse and Laubeggstrasse stands a house that catches the eye from afar with its red-painted timber framing. Above a masonry ground floor rise half-timbered upper floors, topped by a bent hipped roof covered with beaver-tail tiles laid in an elaborate double layer. The ground floor has paired windows with moulded surrounds, the upper floors single windows with board frames; the shutters are painted red and black.

The building inventory dates the house to the second half of the 16th century and calls it one of the oldest country seats in the city of Bern. It names Daniel Rhagor as the builder. Originally the panels between the timbers had grey-black frame stripes. The extensions to the south-east date from the 18th and 19th centuries and follow the forms of the old building; a shed was added in 1876 and further changes followed in 1886. With its farm section the house belongs to the neighbouring Bürengut, formerly the Schosshaldengut, and is surrounded by largely open land.

According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, Daniel Rhagor lived from 1577 to 1648. He was a member of the Grand Council, bailiff in Gottstatt and Thorberg and from 1641 steward of the Interlakenhaus in Bern. He became known as an expert in horticulture: in 1639 he published the Pflantz-Gart, the first systematically structured German-language guide to fruit, vegetable and vine growing in Switzerland, which already describes the potato and asparagus. The book reached its fifth edition in 1676. How the inventory can date the building to the second half of the 16th century while naming Rhagor as its builder is not explained in the sources.

On the south-west facade hang memorial plaques to the builder and to the Schultheiss Niklaus Friedrich von Steiger. They are the detail to look out for as you pass.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Schosshaldenstrasse 44 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Schosshaldengut · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Rhagor, Daniel (Karin Marti-Weissenbach) · Wikidata: Q138858071