House at Kirchenfeldstrasse 44

About the building

Between Kirchenfeldstrasse and Jubiläumsstrasse stands a house that makes a show on three sides. It was built in 1900 to designs by the Bern architect Albert Gerster; the City of Bern building inventory names the Bern building firm Hans Pfeifer Sohn as the client, which a year earlier had already put up the neighbouring house, number 42. The building is rated worthy of protection and belongs to the Kirchenfeld building group.

Gerster (1864–1935) had opened his own office in Bern in 1891 and built, among other things, the municipal riding school and the Hotel Gurten-Kulm. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland counts him among the historicist architects who were sceptical of the new architecture. At Kirchenfeldstrasse 44 this shows in a richly ornamented neo-baroque under a mansard roof.

Towards Kirchenfeldstrasse, the projecting staircase bay rises above the façade. It is framed by pilaster strips with diamond bosses, and at the bottom a round-arched doorway opens with a scroll-shaped keystone. The windows have keystones and triangular and segmental pediments, and panels link them with the curved dormers into vertical bands. At the south-east corner stands a tower with a mansard cap, complemented by a polygonal oriel on the east and a two-storey veranda on the south.

The back towards Jubiläumsstrasse is designed too: a central projection ends in a scrolled gable with a balcony whose iron railing bulges outward. The balcony on the narrow side has a similar railing. A large garden surrounds the house on all sides, and the original fence survives.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Kirchenfeldstrasse 44 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Kirchenfeldstrasse 42 · HLS: Gerster, Albert (Agathon Aerni) · Wikidata: Q106622654 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Kirchenfeld