Friedrich Widmer

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Friedrich "Fritz" Widmer (born September 19, 1870 in Aarau ; † May 14, 1943 in Bern ) was a Swiss architect .

education and profession

Fritz Widmer was born in Aarau as the son of the musician Franz Josef Widmer (1827–1906), who played several instruments and also ran a music shop. After the canton school in Aarau , he began studying architecture at the building school of the Polytechnic in Zurich in 1888 (until 1892), then he was assistant to Professor Alfred F. Bluntschli until 1894 , followed by a good year as an architect in Budapest with Rudolf Ray. This was followed in 1895 for a year as an adjunct in the Solothurn City Building Office .

In 1896 he made an association with Wilhelm Bracher at Bracher & Widmer , and from 1905 Marcel Daxelhofer was a member of the architectural office Bracher, Widmer & Daxelhofer . In 1923 Wilhelm Bracher took over the construction business, which had now been separated from the company, and left the company, which continued to exist as Widmer & Daxelhofer until 1927 . After Marcel Daxelhofer's death in 1927, Friedrich Widmer continued to run the office alone.

After several terraced houses in historical and local style, there followed buildings with an Art Nouveau influence (e.g. Jungfraustrasse 18, Rainegg) as well as representative buildings in neo- baroque and neo- coco styles , such as the Bern High Court building, the Friborg University Library and the Langnau Bank . Later buildings were developed in the neo-classical style , such as the Kirchenfeld grammar school in Bern and the post office in Aarau . The villas and private houses built by Widmer are mainly located in the Kirchenfeld district .

In his memoirs, Widmer describes the following projects as the Bureau's most important contributions:

  1. Uniform design of the row of houses on the east side of the station square (with Hotel Schweizerhof), whereby previously non-existent continuous arbors were realized, so that the train traveler who left the station building was attuned to the specific flair of Bern as the city of arbors.
  2. Creation of arbors at the time bell passage , time bell arbor , in collaboration with architect Albert Gerster ; Widmer's office for the Zeitglockenhof (corner building on Kornhausplatz) and Gerster (corner building on Zwiebelngässchen, Volz pharmacy) to facilitate traffic management.

Her bureau achieved numerous successes in competitions, including a. 1. Prices for the Bern High Court building, the Friborg Cantonal Library, the Zelgli School in Aarau, the Swiss Volksbank Bern etc .; 2nd prize in the 1907 competition for the Swiss National Bank and in 1908 also 2nd prize in the University of Zurich competition .

Works (selection)

  • Row rental houses 1897, 1898, 1899
  • Row houses Kirchenfeldstrasse 50–52, 1901; Bürkiweg 19-21, 1901-1902
  • Villas Aegertenstrasse 22, 1899; Bernastrasse 16, 1903; Kirchenfeldstrasse 78, 1904; Elfenstrasse 10, 1905
  • Upper court building 1906
  • Friborg, University Library 1908
  • Building of the former Volksbank, corner of Christoffelgasse and Bundesgasse 1909
  • Kreditanstalt Bundesplatz 2 1909
  • Bank in Langnau 1908
  • Bahnhofplatz 1–11, Schweizerhof 1909
  • Zelglischulhaus Aarau 1911
  • Post and telegraph building in Aarau 1914
  • Kirchenfeld High School in Bern 1927
  • School houses in Wabern , Spiez , Adelboden , Brienz , Lotzwil (1905), Aarburg , Wimmis

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrea Weibel: Widmer, Friedrich. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  2. ↑ Berner Wochen 25, 554 (1925); Schweizer Bauzeitung 86, 101 (1925), PM (Peter Meyer), Schweizer Bauzeitung 86, 311 (1925).
personal data
SURNAME Widmer, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Widmer, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Aarau
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1943
Place of death Bern