Villa at Luternauweg 12

About the building

On a corner plot on the Luternauweg stands a two-storey, cube-shaped house under a hipped roof. The facades do without horizontal mouldings; prominent channelled pilaster strips frame the corners, and all round open windows with segmental arches set in sandstone surrounds with eared corners and keystones. The original enclosure of the generous garden survives.

The villa was built in 1898 to plans by Albert Gerster, who also put it up as the client. Born in Bern in 1864, Gerster had trained as a mason and stonecutter, studied in Stuttgart and Darmstadt and opened his own office in Bern in 1891. At the same time he built the municipal riding hall (1895–97) and, a little later, the inn on the Gurten. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, many of his villas in the outer districts are now partly used by embassies.

The street facade has three bays. In the middle a projection with its own channelled corner strips steps forward. Its banded ground floor holds the round-arched doorway under a hood, above which follow two segment-headed staircase windows. At the top a curved gable with a decorative keystone closes the projection. On the garden side the three-part division recurs, except that a veranda on Tuscan columns takes the place of the projection. The side facades each have two plain window bays, and the base is rendered in a dark tone.

In 2009 an extension was added on the north-east side. The building inventory lists the villa as worthy of protection. Look at the curved gable above the entrance, which gives the otherwise strict cube a light, playful touch.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Luternauweg 12 · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Gerster, Albert · Wikipedia (de): Albert Gerster · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Kirchenfeld-Schosshalde (Süd) · Wikidata: Q139557523