Stürlerspital on Altenbergstrasse

About the building

Tall and narrow, the stone house rises above Altenbergstrasse under a steep, bent hipped roof. On the south side the lower floor projects at street level with three heavy buttresses and two wide cellar doors. The finely moulded window sills and the careful top cornice stand out. On the eastern narrow side some coupled triple windows survive, typical of late Gothic building.

The house was built in 1659 for the von May family; the date is on the lintel of the old ogee-arched main doorway. Two older vineyard houses were incorporated. It may once have been the official seat of the „welscher Herrenküfer“, the manager of the government's wine cellars. From 1836 to 1895 the property belonged to Heinrich von Stürler and his descendants, as the Stürler coat of arms above the entrance recalls.

In 1895 the Diakonissenhaus, a deaconess institution, bought the house. From 1903 to 1918 it ran a hospital for nervous disorders here, called the Stürlerspital after the former owners, and in 1933 it converted the building into its training hospital. A wash house was added on the east side in 1899. Despite these changes, the building inventory counts the house among the best-preserved buildings of Renaissance Gothic around Bern; it has been under federal protection since 2003.

Around 2000 the deaconess institution sold the property to the cooperative „Andere Wohnformen“ (Other Ways of Living). In 2001/02 the house was renovated and divided into seven units. Paintings from the time of construction came to light. The wide gallery on the north side, with its turned balusters, was sacrificed for an extension with kitchens, bathrooms and a lift. According to an SRF report from 2015, a self-managed household of older people lives here, with private flats and shared rooms.

A detail: above the entrance, look for the coat of arms of the von Stürler family.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Altenbergstrasse 60 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Altenberg-Klösterli · SRF Kultur: Gemeinsam alt werden am Tisch einer Alters-WG (24.9.2015) · Wikidata: Q110768365