Villa at Höheweg 38

About the building

Where the Höheweg begins, on the corner of the Schosshaldenstrasse, a massive three-storey cube stands in a large garden with old trees. Instead of a steep roof it is closed off by a flat terrace roof. According to the city’s heritage office, this roof form appears here unusually early on Bernese soil, and it is what makes the villa special.

The house was built in 1888/89 to plans by the architect Theodor Gränicher for G. Buchmüller-Frank. Gränicher was in demand in Bern as a designer of villas; a good decade later he built, for example, four villas on the Schänzlihalde, the oldest of them in 1900 for Federal Chancellor Gottlieb Ringier.

The building is laid out with strict axial symmetry. Central projections stand out on the long sides, and on the entrance side a taller stair tower with a steep roof and a truncated ridge. A broad band of moulding separates the rendered ground floor from the upper storeys, which are clad in shingles and capped by a cornice. The tall windows, some of them paired, have elaborate surrounds of wood and sandstone that differ from floor to floor.

In front of the south-west facade is a corner veranda in richly decorated timber, and all the iron railings show a geometric pattern. The heritage office judges the villa convincing, both as a whole and in its details. The villa is protected several times over: by protection contracts of 1996, 2006 and 2011, and by federal protection since 1997. As you pass, look at the stair tower, the only part of the building that rises above the flat roof.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Höheweg 38 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Schänzlihalde 27 (Gränicher-Villa von 1900) · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Kirchenfeld-Schosshalde (Nord) · Wikidata: Q138820915