Villa Le Pavillon

About the building

Around Thunplatz in the Kirchenfeld district stand ten villas in a uniform neo-Baroque style, all by Henry Berthold von Fischer (1861–1949). The city's heritage office calls him probably the most important architect of Bernese neo-Baroque. One of them, „Le Pavillon“ at Thunstrasse 52, was built in 1900 as his own home after he returned from Lucerne, where he had worked in the office of the architect Heinrich Viktor von Segesser. Formally, the Kirchenfeld-Baugesellschaft was the client.

The house has a single storey and a mansard roof. Its model was a garden pavilion in the Louis XVI style. Towards the street, a portal section with banded walls projects far forward. Its triangular pediment is open at the bottom and contains a horizontal oval window with a laurel garland. A flight of steps leads up to the round-arched doorway under a canopy shaped like a baldachin. On each side sits a tall window whose lintel is decorated with a laurel festoon. At the south-west corner stands a two-storey tower with a mansard cap and a balcony, and on the garden side a loggia opens up, its entablature with dentils resting on four Ionic columns.

In the garden, probably laid out by Adolf Vivell, von Fischer built the small chapel „Notre-Dame du Rosaire“ (number 52A), a polygonal pavilion with a mansard roof. Von Fischer had converted to Catholicism in Lucerne. House, chapel and garden have hardly changed since they were built; the exterior was renovated in 2009. It has been protected by a decision of the cantonal government since 1973 and, as part of the villa ensemble at Thunplatz, is cultural property of national importance.

Today the villa is the residence of the ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. From the street, look at the roof: two tall chimneys with brick tops stand out clearly there.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Thunstrasse 52, 52A · Wikipedia (de): Villa Le Pavillon · Wikipedia (de): Henry Berthold von Fischer · Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek: An architectural treasure chest – the work of Henry B. von Fischer · Wikidata: Q120793277