Löwenbräu Zurich
The Löwenbrau Zurich AG was a brewery in Zurich and walked out of the 1,890 breweries merged in Wald ZH and Feldbach Hombrechtikon forth. The location in the industrial quarter in Zurich with today's listed building was born in 1897. In 1984 the company was taken over by the “ Hürlimann Brewery ” and the factory closed in 1986. The Löwenbräu brands were continued for a while by the "Hürlimann Brewery".
history
Löwenbräu emerged from the "Wald-Feldbach" company. The “Wald-Feldbach” joint stock brewery was founded in 1890 under the leadership of the Zurich banker Kugler-Borsinger with share capital of 1.2 million francs. It emerged from the merger of the "Felsenkeller Brewery" near Wald ZH and the "Feldbach Brewery" in Hombrechtikon . The owner (Otto Oberholzer) of the “Felsenkeller Brewery” resigned and the owner of the “Feldbach Brewery”, Wilhelm Funk, became director. The company struggled with personnel problems shortly after it was founded. The previously successful depot manager of the “Felsenkeller Brewery” in Zurich switched to the “Hürlimann Brewery” and became commercial director there on May 1, 1891. His brother, who ran the “Felsenkeller Brewery” depot in Winterthur, also moved to the “Hürlimann Brewery”. . With both of them, the newly founded "Wald-Feldbach" lost customers right from the start. The master brewer of the “Felsenkeller Brewery” also resigned in 1891.
Operation of the "Feldbach Brewery" ceased in 1892 and the "Felsenkeller Brewery" had to take over the production of beer for customers in Feldbach. In 1896 Joseph Boesch was entrusted with the management and the former director Wilhelm Funk resigned since the founding of the merged brewery. On January 30, 1897, the decision was made to open a new brewery in the industrial district in Zurich and the name was changed from "Wald-Feldbach" to "Aktien-Brauerei Zürich". Production began in March 1898, even before the new plant with siding was completely completed in the summer of 1898. The properties in Wald ZH and Feldbach were transferred to the newly founded subsidiary “Aktien-Brauerei Wald”.
In 1899 the ice machine was enlarged in anticipation of greater beer sales due to the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 . In 1908 the bottling plant was relocated to a newly built extension. In 1911 the new brewery in Zurich was already producing 76,000 hectoliters of beer. Since the balance of his work as director was not all positive, Joseph Boesch switched from management to the administrative board on July 1, 1913. The brewery had too much real estate, which became a bigger problem. Joseph Boesch left the board of directors on February 1, 1914 and died on July 18, 1919. In June 1916, J. Grossmann became the sole director and had to solve the company's problems. In the following years he was able to take over the customers of some breweries, but without the real estate. In 1915, for example, the Aktienbrauerei took over the customers of the former "Gütsch Brewery" in Lucerne and in 1916 the customers of the "Brauerei zum Schweizerhaus" in Wil. In 1917 the brewery, which had previously operated with steam power plants, was electrified.
In the war years of the First World War , the total production volume of all breweries affiliated to the stock brewery fell by 26 percent. A consolidation of the production facilities was necessary. Affected were the “Wald-Feldbach” company, the “Horber brewery” in Zurich, the “Schönthal brewery” in Winterthur, the “Leopold Haas” brewery in Zurich, the “Nürensdorf brewery”, the “Gambrinus brewery” in Zurich and the "Bavaria Brewery" in Zurich. On July 1, 1918, the company merged with the “Aktien-Brauerei” in Wil. The Zurich Aktienbrauerei was also able to attract customers from the “Seefeld Brewery” in Zurich, “Uhler Brewery” in St. Gallen, “Gütsch Brewery” in Lucerne, “Wanner Brewery” in Wil, “Wirthensohn Brewery” in Wattwil, “Brewery for Hope” in Lichtensteig and the “Stein Brewery” in the canton of Appenzell. In the end, fifteen breweries became part of the Zurich Aktienbrauerei.
In 1920 the spent grain drying plant was replaced and repair workshops were set up. In 1920 and 1921 the cooling system was rebuilt. Beer sales in the business year 1920/1921 were around 47,000 hectoliters. After taking over the small brewery Löwenbräu in Dietikon in 1925, the company name changed to Löwenbräu Zürich AG . In 1930 the amount produced was 121,000 hectoliters of beer. The war years led to a decline in production, and it wasn't until the late 1960s that a new production high of 150,000 hectoliters was reached. To increase capacity, the brewery commissioned a new building with a machine and brewhouse, offices and canteen in 1973. In 1979 Löwenbräu entered the American market and in 1982/1983 was able to export 10,830 hectoliters of "Swiss Beer" to the USA. In 1984 the Löwenbräu was bought by Hürlimann and the business premises were closed in 1986. The Löwenbräu brands were continued for a while by the "Hürlimann Brewery".
range
In the 1980s, the brewery produced two lager beers, “Löwenbräu hell” and “Löwenbräu dark”, and one special beer, “Löwengold”. Festbier, a strong beer “Doppelbock dark”, “Lions”, the exclusively exported light beer “Swiss Beer” light and dark and the non-alcoholic beer “Libero” were produced as specialties.
Expansion of the Löwenbräu area
The Löwenbräu area with the listed building, the silos and the chimney of the former brewery was expanded and expanded from 2010 to 2013. The area now offers services, apartments and cultural uses. The former brewery building is already used today as an art gallery ( Hauser & Wirth ), a museum ( Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst ) and as an exit bar (columned hall). The project to expand the area was approved by the local council back in 1993, but was put on hold for a long time. In 2003, the new owner REG Real Estate AG decided to implement the project. Three new buildings will be added to the listed old buildings. It is a residential high-rise, an office building and an additional building that is open to art use. One of the flanking skyscrapers will be red in appearance and 38 meters high. The more central high-rise will have a black facade and be 70 meters high and so protrude above the area. The 32,000 square meters of total usable space will be converted into a good 36 percent apartments (56 apartments in total), almost 32 percent office space and space for cultural use.
Repositioning as "Löwenbräukunst Zurich"
In 2012 the Löwenbräu site repositioned itself as an art center under the umbrella brand “Löwenbräukunst Zürich”. The uniform appearance was also reinforced architecturally by the new connection between the buildings at Limmatstrasse 268 and 270 and by means of uniform signage. In addition to the offerings from art institutions, the art and culture foundation, the galleries and the publishing house, a new restaurant, an Art Escape Room, a gallery sharing concept and the Migros Culture Percentage moved in as a new tenant.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Fritz Schoellhorn : The brewing trade and the breweries of the Canton of Zurich. Buchdruckerei Winterthur vorm. G. Binkert, Winterthur 1922.
- ↑ a b c Karl Thöne: Swiss beer book. Fachverband Schweizer Wirteverband, Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-85898-007-2 .
- ^ Martin Hürlimann, Fritz Lendenmann, Beer and Brewing Beer in Zurich. Zurich City Archives, Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-9080-6001-X .
- ↑ City of Zurich Building Department, Löwenbräu-Areal ( Memento of the original dated June 16, 2012 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. , accessed August 1, 2010.
- ↑ PSP Swiss Property, Das Löwenbräu-Areal , interview with Dr. Ludwig Reinsperger, Management PSP Swiss Property. 2008
- ↑ Media release from the City of Zurich of June 8, 2012, https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/prd/de/index/ueber_das_departement/medien/medienmitteilungen/2012/juni/120608a.html (May 11, 16)
