Country yard

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Landhof in 2015. View from the northeast corner of the playing field and the grandstand.
Southern standing ramp of the farm, as it was in 2015

The farmstead is a sports stadium in the district Wettstein in Basel . It was the former and first home stadium of FC Basel .

history

Historic aerial photo of the farm from 1954

The country farm is mentioned for the first time in a chronicle in the second half of the 18th century as a “nice summer house with a beautiful property”. The best-known owner of the estate at that time was Andreas Merian-Iselin , Mayor of Basel and Landammann of Switzerland (highest office at that time).

In 1892 the granddaughters of Merian-Iselin sold the farm of a certain Katharina Ehrler-Wittich. When the "Football Club Basel 1893" was founded in 1893 , it made the Landhof available free of charge as a playing surface. On Sunday, November 26th, 1893, the first internal football game took place on the farm, which was played by two ad hoc teams from the young club. From 1895 to 1901 the “Vélodrome de Bâle” cycle track was also located on the farm. In 1898, the first league game of FC Basel 1893, a city derby against BSC Old Boys, took place in front of almost 400 spectators.

On April 5, 1908, the first international football match between Switzerland and Germany took place on the Landhof in front of 4,000 spectators . Switzerland won 5-3. This was the first ever international match for Germany and the third for Switzerland . For this game, the Landhof, sponsored by a chocolate factory, was given a grandstand.

The "Olympic Games 1916". The official games are originally planned in Berlin, but are canceled due to the First World War. Instead, various local sports festivals under the title "Olympic Games" are being held in numerous countries that are not directly affected by the war. In front of almost 3,000 spectators on July 30th, more than 130 Swiss athletes from over 30 clubs take part in the competitions and set “numerous records”.

In 1953, FCB became Swiss champions for the first time - on the farm. In 1955 he played in the first predecessor tournament of the UEFA Cup, the Messestädte Cup. Among other things, the city selection of London was a guest, which only failed in the final against Barcelona.

Until 1967, the Landhof was the home ground of FC Basel. After Helmut Benthaus signed on as player-coach with FC Basel, the Landhof became too small for the increasing number of spectators, so that FC Basel played its home games in the St. Jakob Stadium from 1967 . Until the beginning of the 1990s, however, FC Basel continued to use the Landhof as a training ground and junior field and also had its office and clubhouse there. After that, the area became overgrown and there was a long-term political struggle over a planned residential block development.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the "ooink ooink Productions", the youth development association of Upper Kleinbasel, have been running their open child and youth work on the farm with a wide range of leisure activities. The area is also used by sports groups and for various celebrations.

politics

In 2003 an urban planning ideas competition for a settlement and open space concept for the Landhof area was carried out. Together with an accompanying group of interested neighborhood residents, a consensus paper with ideas and wishes for the area was drawn up. The project envisaged a partial development with four buildings and around 120 apartments.

Resistance formed against the building project. At the initiative of the Green Party and the "Association for the Preservation of the Landhof Area", various people - mainly from Kleinbasel - came together to form a committee. A popular initiative was submitted which demanded the allocation of the area to the green zone in order to make building development impossible.

The government and the cantonal parliament submitted a counter-proposal, according to which one of the four buildings should be dispensed with and eighty cooperative apartments should be built. The initiative was not withdrawn, however, as the initiators pursued the objective of keeping the entire area free and recommended a higher level of structural development along Riehenstrasse to compensate.

The initiative committee was concerned with maintaining and further developing a public place with a wide range of possible uses in the interests of the neighborhood population. In their opinion, the already densely built-up Kleinbasel needs the green space, especially in view of the upcoming densification through high-rise buildings.

In the referendum of March 7, 2010, the voters of the canton of Basel-Stadt approved both the popular initiative “Der Landhof stays green” and the counter-proposal for a partial development; the initiative received a majority on the key question. With that she was accepted.

Popular initiative "The Landhof stays green":

Popular initiative "The Landhof stays green" YES: 29,596 (60.28%) NO: 19,498 (39.72%)
Counter-proposal for partial development: YES: 24,829 (51.70%) NO: 23,194 (48.30%)
Key question: Initiative: 25,810 (52.58%) Counter-proposal: 23,281 (47.42%)

The country courtyard was then converted into a green zone, and the sports department ceded management to the city gardening department. However, this did not solve the problems, especially since the country courtyard was becoming more and more overgrown and the grandstand building was only subjected to the most necessary small renovations.

future

The voting campaign at the beginning of 2010 for the "The Landhof stays green!" raged loudly and partly spitefully. Here general government, FDP, LDP, SP and the association of housing cooperatives, who wanted to build over half of the area. There BastA !, Greens, CVP, SVP, a few deviants from the SP, many residents and FCB fans who wanted to stop the project on an initiative. The result of March 7, 2010 is well known: The initiative won, the Landhof remains green.

How it should stay green was discussed by a 25-strong support group set up by the city nursery. Representatives from administration, neighborhood, youth work, the FCB environment and the initiative committee formulated no fewer than 61 general, main and sub-goals that the “new country courtyard” should fulfill. In autumn 2012, a new call for tenders was launched using an anonymous competition procedure that ended in March 2013.

Since May 2013 the winning project "stranger than paradise" has been determined. This is to be further developed together with the Landhof support group in order to meet all requirements as far as possible.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Page of the German Football Association about the 1908 international match in the Landhof ; Accessed February 22, 2010.

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '44.3 "  N , 7 ° 36' 9.5"  E ; CH1903:  612 344  /  two hundred sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight