Villa at Grüneckweg 4

About the building

At the bend of the Grüneckweg a stout two-storey polygonal tower under a mansard cap catches the eye. It belongs to a small villa on a square plan, with a raised ground floor above a base and a mansard hipped roof. The tower has segment-headed windows on the raised ground floor and broad, loggia-like openings under basket arches on the upper floor.

The house was built in 1900. The building inventory names Alfred Kasser as architect and client. The heritage office sums up its character as Baroque château romanticism, realised in the smallest space and partly with local means.

A raised ground floor sits on a base, so the entrance lies a few steps above the garden. The main facade facing south has three bays with segment-headed windows; the eastern one is enlarged and serves a veranda built into the house. In the centre a large curved cross gable with a broken segmental top cuts into the roof. On either side sit round bull’s-eye windows under small hoods. Gable, bull’s-eyes and tower together produce exactly the Baroque little-château effect that the building inventory ascribes to the house.

Later a garage was added on the east side, according to the inventory in 1969, and in 2005 the interior was remodelled, with two windows inserted. The building inventory lists the villa as worthy of protection, and its surroundings are also considered an outdoor area of heritage interest. Walking up the Grüneckweg, you see the tower first, then the south side with its gable and the two round windows.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Grüneckweg 4 · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Kirchenfeld-Schosshalde (Nord) · Wikidata: Q141593062