House at Seminarstrasse 15

About the building

Seminarstrasse leads east from Thunplatz. The square links the Kirchenfeld, laid out from 1881 to a fixed district plan, with the Brunnadern district, and several streets fan out from it. At number 15 stands an almost cube-shaped house of 1903 under a mansard hipped roof. It was designed and built by Ernst Rohrer, who according to the City of Bern building inventory was also the client. The house is rated worthy of protection and belongs to the Kirchenfeld building group.

The rendered building is three bays wide on the street side and two on the side. The windows are cut straight into the rendered walls without frames or mouldings, and some parts are of cast stone. In the middle of the symmetrical street front the staircase projects strongly and ends in an idiosyncratic curved, kinked gable. In front of it is a small round-arched entrance porch with a strongly curved hood. Above follow a round-arched window and a triple window.

The wooden front door is especially fine, its frame decorated with a dentil frieze. The east front, by contrast, is asymmetrical: to the north there is a projection with a gable, to the south a veranda with a terrace whose parapet is pierced with semicircular openings. Geometric ornament on both fronts completes the picture.

The heritage office regards the house as an expressive early example of so-called National Romanticism, a movement that peaked around 1910. An extension and a wooden house were added in 1918, a garage in 1954. In 2005 the façades and roof were repaired, and in 2005 and 2007 its protection was laid down by agreement.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Seminarstrasse 15 · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Baugruppe Kirchenfeld · Wikidata: Q138808283 · Wikipedia (de): Liste der Kulturgüter in Bern/Kirchenfeld-Schosshalde (Nord)