Volkshaus Bern

About the building

In Zeughausgasse a broad, monumental show front stands out. Simplified Ionic half-columns rise through four storeys, topped by a strong cornice and an attic storey with a raised centre. The Volkshaus was built in 1913 and 1914 to plans by the Bern architect Otto Ingold (1883–1943), a co-founder of the Swiss Werkbund. The building is regarded as his main work.

Workers already had a house on this site before. In 1893 the Grütliverein bought the property at Zeughausgasse 9 and opened the first Volkshaus in Switzerland there; in 1905 a company was founded to run it. The new building also took in the neighbouring houses 11 to 15. The hotel gives 1911 as the year the old house was demolished. The new Volkshaus opened at the end of October 1914, among other things with the party congress of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland.

The facade is unique in Bern: it is made of tinted concrete whose surface was worked by hand, and it looks like a single seamless sculpture in artificial stone. The heritage office sees in it a reference to the neighbouring Rathaus des Äusseren Standes, whose show front is taken up here at roughly twice the size. In front of the four central half-columns, figures of a worker and a mother stand on lion brackets, made by Bernhard Hoetger from Darmstadt. The rear carries the inscription „VOLKS HAVS 1914“.

History was made in this house. In 1915 Lenin gathered delegates of the Bolshevik groups abroad here, and in 1918 the Olten Action Committee called a protest strike in the Volkshaus, which led to the nationwide general strike. A people's cinema was added in 1919. From 1981 to 1983 the building was rebuilt behind the main facade and renamed Hotel Bern; a further renewal followed from 2018 to 2020. The restaurant has the mural „Der Redner“ (The Speaker) by Eduard Boss from the time of construction, which is said to show the trade unionist Howard Eugster.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Zeughausgasse 9 · Wikipedia (de): Volkshaus Bern · Hotel Bern: Geschichte – Vom Volkshaus zum Hotel Bern · Wikipedia (de): Otto Ingold · Wikidata: Q2531969