Scratching quarters
The Kratzquartier was a quarter in the city of Zurich until 1891 . It was first mentioned in 1315. Until the Reformation in 1524, it belonged to the Fraumünster Abbey .
Nothing is left of the quarter today; it was completely dismantled between 1877 and 1891 during the “ major construction period ”.
location
The Kratzquartier was on the outskirts of the city between the Fraumünster Abbey and Lake Zurich . At times it only had a narrow entrance and exit to the Limmat in the northeast corner ; otherwise it was locked. In the north was the Fraumünster monastery and a row of houses leaning against its enclosure, in the west stood the city wall with the frogs' pit behind it; in the south was the lake and in the east the Limmat flowed.
View of the Kratz before 1538
Kratzquartier around 1790 in the city model by Hans Langmack
Kratzquartier 1850, plan by HF Leuthold
1880
Surname
The closed location may have given the quarter its name: A "Kratten" denotes a basket and thus corresponds to the dead end that formed the quarter. The name "Kratz" is no longer used today.
Murer plan
The Murer plan from 1576 shows a snapshot from the Kratzquartier. Murer shows the quarter from the west: in front the city wall with the Wollishoferturm on the left, the abbess tower , the Kappelerhof and the scratching tower on the lake. To the east of the tower is the triangular work place for stonemasons and carpenters that was built in 1470. The foundations of the houses built after 1540 and the old city wall that delimited the square in the north were uncovered in the spring of 2000 in Börsenstrasse in front of the National Bank. The new Bauhaus will be built in the west of the Ravelin's round tower. Another work place for the carpenters was behind the Fraumünster. The slewing crane for unloading the stone blocks is still in front of the Fraumünster; a few years later it was built up the Limmat in front of the new Bauhaus.
population
The crooked and tightly packed houses looked like the poor suburbs that could be found in other cities in Europe, for example in Bern , Ulm , Vienna or Heidelberg .
Numerous poor and marginalized people lived in the Kratz. For example, the washerwomen, tinkers, the gravedigger of the Fraumünster, the executioner and prostitute lived here . At Kapplergasse 11 stood the house "To the traveling man", in which around 1450 the executioner Peter Heiden lived. In 1454 he sold it on. Around 1400 half of the Kratz residents were among the poorest residents of the city; in other quarters they made up a fifth. They were organized in the Constaffel , which covered the funeral costs for the deceased. In 1500 it had 48 Kratz residents. As a collecting basin for travelers and beggars, the scratching quarter was also known beyond the borders of today's Switzerland.
After the Reformation, when the city took over the welfare of the poor, the Kratzquartier was more closely integrated into the city. In 1546 the Kratz inhabitants disappeared from the Constaffel registers.
After the construction of the Bauhaus in 1586, more builders, such as stonemasons and carpenters, as well as city officials, moved into the quarter. The census of 1637 shows that the row of houses with the half-timbered upper floors visible above the inscription “Im Kratz” became an actual stonemasonry settlement in which the famous Hans Heinrich Stadler (1603–1660) lived.
Sechseläuten
The custom goes back to the residents of the Kratzquartier to burn a «Böögg» filled with fireworks at Sechseläuten today . For centuries, the boys in the neighborhood have burned one or more straw dolls at various “execution places”, despite a ban that has been in force since the end of the 15th century. Today's “Bööggs” burned at the end of the Sechseläuten from the Sechseläuten fire, which a residents' association had organized in Kratz since 1868. Like many fire customs, the custom was originally tied to the spring equinox .
development
The “Plan of the City of Zurich”, reconstructed by Paul Schweizer from the “Document Book of the City and Landscape of Zurich”, lists only six houses in the Kratzquartier in 1336, the majority of which were built in the second half of the 13th century. These oldest buildings included the Kappelerhof of the Kappel Monastery , two houses on the ring wall between the scratching tower and the scratching door , the beneficiary 's house “Zum Leopard” on the Limmat, the abbess's attached Pfisterhaus “Zum golden Winkel” and the hangman's house by the scratching door . Up until the Reformation , the Kratzquartier was a small, densely built-up settlement south of the monastery district, which was clearly delimited from the rest of the city by closed rows of houses and the city fortifications from the 13th century.
In the winter of 1540/41, a major change in the building structure brought about the filling and fortification of the lake shore to the south: the shore wall was moved out into the lake and the area in between was drained. Waste and demolition material were used as filling material, which was then covered with sand. At times, people worked day and night and also on Sundays.
On the triangular area, the municipal work place for stonemasons and carpenters as well as on the Limmat towards the lake, under the direction of master builder Lavater, the half-tower of the Ravelin in Kratz was created. The old center of the Kratz, the sacrament house, was demolished together with the associated vineyard in 1585; in its place a row of houses was built facing the square.
Houses
Every house in the scratching area had a name; most of them have been preserved. The insurance numbers of the individual buildings are entered in a plan that shows the situation before and after the renovation .
| Insurance number |
Name of the house | Insurance number |
Name of the house | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44a | To the Golden Ring (Gasthof zur Sonne) | 63 | Stones face | |
| 44b | To the golden ring | 64 | Engel (Gasthof zur Sonne) | |
| 45 | Empty pockets | 65 | Yellow rose | |
| 46a | Room ax | 66 | To the angular measure | |
| 47a | To the flying angel | 67 | To the pomegranate | |
| 47b | To the little angel | 68 | At the curtain wall | |
| 48 | Dark Star | 69 | To the golden angle | |
| 49 | White swan | 70 | To all winds | |
| 50 | William Tell | 71 | Steinböckli | |
| 51 | Half a leu | 72 | Broad ax | |
| 52 | patience | 73 | To the mermaid | |
| 53 | To the traveling man | 74 | To the Königskron | |
| 54 | Ludimoderator (game master) | 75 | At the old time of the sun | |
| 55 | To the red Rössli | 76 | Linsischhaus | |
| 56a | Kappelerhaus | 77 | paradise | |
| 57 | Front scratch | 78 | Old school | |
| 58 | Little rose | 79 | To the yellow star | |
| 59 | Resin pan | 82a | To the big Spinnhof | |
| 60 | Solar time | 83a | Steinhof (Zur Stegen) | |
| 61 | To the barrel | 84 | To the wolf (helping) | |
| 62 | Weinhauen | 85a | To the cornerstone |
Row of houses in the north of the town hall square. From the left: “Vorder Kratz”, “Kleine Rose”, “Harzpfanne”, “Sonnenzeit”, “Zum Fass”, “Weinhauen” and “Steinen Face”. In front a warehouse
1855
From the left the scratching tower and the houses “Zu allen Winden”, “Steinböckli”, “Breitaxt”, “Meerfräuli”, “Königskron” and the stately “Zum alten Sonnenzeit”
1875
"To the golden ring", to the left of it the branch of the inn "Zur Sonne"
1880
Above left is the “Frieden” café, then the abbess's former Pfisterhaus “Zum golden Winkel”, “Zum Schwänli” restaurant, “Zur Sonne” inn, “Empty pockets”, “Zimmeraxt” and the corner house “Fliegender Engel”
1890
Corner of Kappelergasse (right) Stadthausquai (left) with the corner building of the “Frieden” restaurant
1890
on Stadthausplatz. On the far left the “Golden Ring”, with the bay window the “Steinhof”, then the Helfereigässlein
1890
"Peace" restaurant in
1890
View over the Stadthausquai to the Kornhaus ,
1880
Scratching place
The new center of the quarter was the “scratch place” with its fountain, where annual fairs have been held since 1796, and the large wash area with the wash house leaning against the building garden wall. After a new building in 1847, the city took over its organization in 1850, and in 1877 it was demolished.
The fountain made of Solothurn marble stood opposite the Bauhaus in the middle of the square. Hans Peter Albrecht made the fountain tubes with three faces. He got his water from the Albisriederleitung. In 1632 it was renewed at the request of the Kratz residents. After the construction of Börsenstrasse it was first relocated to the southern corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Börsenstrasse, and when the National Bank was built in 1919 it was relocated again. As the only remnant of the Kratzquartier it stands today on the northern edge of the small park between Zypressenstrasse and Fritschistrasse.
The most stately house on the square was the "Golden Ring", which was built in 1843 on the site of small commercial buildings. The house was the residence of the architect Julius Stadler (1855-1892), a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic . In 1891 it was demolished for the construction of the "Metropol".
bauhaus
The most striking building in the Kratzquartier was the Bauhaus, decorated with bay windows, with its characteristic stepped gable roof. It was built between 1583 and 1586 and was the home of the town builder. This was a member of the small council and building director of the city; he was responsible for the supervision of all urban buildings as well as roads and bridges.
When the canton and the city were divided up in 1803, the Bauhaus was left to the city, which housed the city chancellery and the city clerk's apartment. After moving into the new town house south of the Fraumünster, the Bauhaus was demolished in 1886. Most recently it served as a quarantine bar for smallpox suspects.
The Bauhaus was joined to the south by the half tower of the Ravelin, which was built in 1540 and raised by one storey in 1576 and provided with loopholes and a pointed roof. To the west of the Bauhaus was the town's building works, the seat of the «municipal foreman in stone».
The Bauhaus around 1700, drawing by Gerold Escher
Bauhaus with the rest of the Ravelin, view from the south
View around 1880, view from the west
Bauhaus, view to the southeast
The Bauhaus is canceled
Scratching tower
The scratching tower belonged to the city fortifications on the left bank . It was mentioned for the first time in 1397 as the kratzturn and was also called "Tower at the Spitz". In 1877, despite violent protests, the tower fell victim to the extension of Bahnhofstrasse . The intersection of Börsenstrasse and Bahnhofstrasse runs through its former location.
Next to the scratching tower was the building garden structure (formerly Bollwerk “am Spitz”). A small tavern had stood there since 1807 and served as a summer bar for the «Baugarten-Gesellschaft», founded in 1802. The Baugartengesellschaft was dissolved in 1904 by the last surviving board member.
Big construction period
Until 1844, the old shoreline from 1540 south of the town hall was moved further seaward by a large-scale filling. Demolition material from the medieval fortifications was used as filling material. The newly gained area was initially used as a workshop, and in 1841 it became the town hall garden, in which the scratching tower and the building garden were incorporated. The construction of the Poststrasse (1835–38) and the Stadthausquais (1841–43) made isolated scrap quarters more accessible and freed from their peripheral location, but it was threatened from other sides.
While the expansion of the city had previously been largely restricted to undeveloped areas, renewal plans in the second half of the 19th century increasingly began to affect the old town, which had grown larger. The engineer and politician Arnold Bürkli in particular vigorously promoted the systematic renewal of the district. With regard to the Kratzquartier, the idea suggests that this should include a neighborhood in which numerous people with poor means still lived. On May 18, 1858, the city council decided to put out a competition for the rebuilding of the scratch district; the quarter should become a noticeably new ornament for Zurich and include a new townhouse. In January 1859, several architects had submitted their plans, including Johann Jakob Breitinger , Gottfried Semper and Ferdinand Stadler . The Semper project attracted the greatest attention: According to his plans, Zurich would receive a building district that no other Swiss city could boast a nicer one . Nevertheless, Semper's project was not pursued any further; the experts considered his idea to be in the middle of the new quarter to be a missed town house. In order for the building to benefit the whole city, it should be located closer to the city center south of the Fraumünster - as it happened.
The further planning was in the hands of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli. In 1862 this envisaged a dense development with block quarters for the Kratzquartier as well as a straight continuation of Bahnhofstrasse to the lake. The scratching tower with the building garden stood in the way of this project. Although Semper had previously wanted to build over the building garden himself, he now campaigned vehemently for its preservation and compared the view with the terrace of the Gasthof zur Mole in Gaëta . In 1863 he wrote an appraisal on the use of the building garden, and in 1867, together with a student, a “general plan” for Zurich was drawn up in which the viewpoint was retained.
With the planned construction of the new stock exchange on the Baugarten area in 1874, the topic of scratching quarters became topical again. The city announced a competition for the design of the quay and the scratch. Despite the bitter resistance of the opponents, above all the Baugartengesellschaft, who campaigned for the preservation of the idyllic garden with the medieval tower, the draft of the stock exchange building was accepted on March 19, 1876. An earmarked donation from Heinrich Bodmer's heirs to Arch in the amount of half a million francs may have contributed to the decision, which, if rejected, might have expired.
With the new neighborhood plan, the jury explicitly referred to Semper's first scratching neighborhood project, in which the building jump should be removed. The town house was then built next to the Fraumünster, and in 1919 the National Bank came to be in the "town house complex" .
With the acceptance of the stock exchange bill, the fate of the building garden and the entire Kratzquartier was sealed. In March 1878 the demolition of the building garden began. The medieval Kappelerhof also had to give way to a new square in 1878. The rest of the quarter was gradually razed . The last old houses in Kratz fell in 1891, and today the «Metropol» house stands in their place.
Scratching tower and building garden
Same view today: The Fraumünsterpost
The last scratching houses in 1891
same place today: House "Metropol"
literature
- Paul Guyer (Ed.): Pictures from old Zurich. Public buildings and guild houses based on drawings from around 1700. From Gerold Escher's regimental book . Publisher Hans Roth, Zurich 1954
- Christine Barraud Wiener, Regine Abegg: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich, City of Zurich Volume II.II, Wiese Verlag, Basel 2003
- Christine Barraud Wiener, Peter Jezler: The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich, City of Zurich Volume I , Wiese Verlag, Basel 1999
- Jürg Fierz (Ed.): Zurich - Who else is there? Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich 1972
- Thomas Germann: Zurich in Time Lapse , Volumes I and II, Werd-Verlag Zurich, 1997 and 2000
- Paul Nussberger: Old Zurich . Groppengiesser Verlag, Zurich 1944
- Beat Haas, Thomas Meyer, Dölf Wild: Almost like in Paris. The redesign of the Kratzquartier around 1880 , Zurich 2001
Individual evidence
- ^ Salomon Voegelin, "Das Alte Zürich" Volume 1; City Archives Reg 65
- ^ Beat Haas, Thomas Meyer, Dölf Wild: Almost like in Paris. The redesign of the Kratzquartier around 1880, Zurich 2001
- ^ Fred Rihner: Illustrated history of the Zurich old town ; Bosch Verlag, Zurich 1975
- ↑ a b The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich, New Edition Volume II.II, Bern 2003.
- ↑ Sechseläuten ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Paul Nussberger: Old Zurich
- ↑ The Art Monuments of the Canton of Zurich, The City of Zurich, City Before the Wall, New Edition Volume I, Basel 1999.
- ↑ Thomas Germann: Zurich in fast motion. Volume I, Werd Verlag, Zurich 1997, p. 52
- ^ Paul Nussberger: Old Zurich . Groppengiesser Verlag, Zurich 1944
- ^ Thomas Germann: Zürich im Zeitraffer, Volume I, Werd Verlag Zürich, 1997, p. 54
- ↑ a b Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich, Die Stadt Zürich, New Edition Volume I, Basel 1999.
- ^ Thomas Germann: Zürich im Zeitraffer, Volume II, Werd Verlag Zürich, 2000, p. 42
- ^ Walter Baumann: Zurich-Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich 1972
- ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung (November 29, 2003): The most beautiful “building district” in Switzerland , accessed on March 13, 2019
