Apartment house at Alpenstrasse 5

About the building

Kirchenfeld was the first extension of Bern built to a detailed district plan. In 1881 the Burgergemeinde sold the land to the English Berne Land Company, which laid out the streets and sewers and built the Kirchenfeld bridge. In the early years of this development, in 1892, the apartment house at Alpenstrasse 5 went up. The client was E. Röthlisberger, and the designer was the master builder Jakob Glur.

Glur (1842–1907) came from Roggwil and is known in Bern above all for his houses of exposed brick with sgraffito decoration, most of all the estate on the Obstberg. On Alpenstrasse he worked differently: the house is rendered, banded on the ground floor, and all cornices and window surrounds are of sandstone. It stands on an almost square plan under a steep hipped roof with a cut-off ridge. On three sides gables above slightly projecting bays break through the roof; on the south-east side the bay spans two window axes under a hipped gable.

The city inventory describes how Glur started from regularly intersecting volumes, like those of the nearby villa at Marienstrasse 11 of 1887, and then deliberately sought imbalance in the spirit of the picturesque turn-of-the-century style. The rich ornament that became common in the quarter a few years later is still absent here. One detail worth finding is on the south-west bay: the balcony door on the second floor is framed as a small aedicule with a triangular pediment.

The dormers were added in 1920. The house stands on a large plot that is still enclosed by its original fence. It is rated as worthy of protection and is part of the Kirchenfeld building group.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Alpenstrasse 5 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Marienstrasse 11 (Vergleichsbau) · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Kirchenfeld · Wikipedia (de): Jakob Glur · Wikidata: Q138766399