House with restaurant at Thunstrasse 5

About the building

Coming over the Kirchenfeld Bridge, you see at Helvetiaplatz a building that follows the curve of the ring road: a concave, symmetrical complex between Thunstrasse and Marienstrasse. The house with restaurant was designed in 1896 by Horace Edouard Davinet for the contractor C. Gaggione. Davinet, born in Pont-d’Ain in 1839, had earlier made his name as a hotel architect and is regarded as the author of the street plan for the whole Kirchenfeld quarter.

The Neo-Baroque building has three parts. The three-bay central block is one storey higher than the two side wings; a continuous, banded ground floor ties everything together. The upper floors are smoothly rendered and ordered by pilaster strips and a crowning cornice. Jointed panels group the windows into vertical bands; on the first floor they have segmental pediments, on the second straight cornices.

In the middle is the tall doorway with a cartouche at its apex, above it a balcony on brackets with a bulging iron railing. In the main cornice, rosettes alternate with triglyphs, and the dormers carry triangular pediments with volutes at the sides. The narrow ends towards Thunstrasse and Marienstrasse also have three bays and are symmetrical.

Apart from extensions on the east side and some simplifications, the building has kept its original form; in 1933 the roof of the south wing was rebuilt. In 1994 the restaurant at Thunstrasse 5 was renovated and reopened on 4 February 1995 as Restaurant Kirchenfeld; a short publication on the history of the quarter appeared for the occasion. Since 1995 this part has been protected by contract.

Davinet himself soon turned to other tasks: in 1891 he had become director of the Kunstmuseum Bern, and in 1899 the city made him an honorary citizen (Ehrenburger). As you pass, look up at the frieze of rosettes beneath the roof.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Thunstrasse 5, Marienstrasse 6 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Kirchenfeld · Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Davinet, Horace Edouard · Wikidata: Wohnhaus mit Restaurant (1896)