Villa at Muristrasse 19

About the building

Where the Muristrasse and the Liebeggweg fork stands a villa whose plan responds to the tapering plot. It has a shallow hipped roof whose eaves end almost flush with the facade. A wrought-iron fence with striking gateposts encloses house and garden.

Like its neighbour at Muristrasse 15, this villa was built in 1897/98 by Angelo Nottaris, who also appears in the building inventory as the client. Together with Muristrasse 15, 17 and 17A it forms an almost symmetrical group with related forms. Unlike its neighbour at number 15 it has no oriel turret; its appeal lies in the shape of the plan and the ornament of the upper floor.

The rendered building is richly decorated, its mouldings picked out in colour. The upper floor is marked out as the bel étage, the principal storey, by richer ornament: fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals frame the windows, whose sill panels are decorated and whose lintels are crowned. Above the banded ground floor a profiled string course and a cornice run round the building. On the south-east side there is a veranda, and the keystone above the French window is shaped as a mask.

Apart from a later porch and minor alterations, for instance in 1969, the house survives in its original state; a garage was added in 1948. The building inventory lists the villa as worthy of protection. As you pass, look for the mask above the veranda door and for the gateposts of the fence.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Muristrasse 19 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Muristrasse 15 · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Kirchenfeld-Schosshalde (Nord) · Wikidata: Q128123174