Waisenhaus Zürich

Waisenhaus
Native name Waisenhaus

Waisenhaus as seen from Limmatquai
Location Bahnhofquai 3, 8003 Zürich
Coordinates 47°22′22.6″N 8°32′30.4″E / 47.372944°N 8.541778°ECoordinates: 47°22′22.6″N 8°32′30.4″E / 47.372944°N 8.541778°E
Built 1914
Architect Gustav Gull
Governing body City of Zürich

Waisenhaus is the last remaining building of the Oetenbach nunnery, and houses today the police departement of city of Zürich in Switzerland.

Location

The Waisenhaus is situated at Bahnhofquai 3 towards Bahnhofbrücke and Hautbahnhof Zürich. In fact outside of the historical core of the medieval town of Zürich, previously the Celtic-Roman Turicum, its predecessor building is the last remain of the Oetenbach nunnery at the Lindenhof-Silhlbühl hill on the western shore of the Limmat river.[1][2]

History

Limmatquai and Lindenhof-Sihlbühl area, Gmüessbrügg on the upper side, and the Waisenhaus on the limmat shore in the foreground. Aerial phography by Eduard Spelterini around 1909.

After the Reformation in Zürich, the city govrenment took over the monastic buildings for new uses. To manage the income of the former convent, the former administration building was held as Oetenbacheramt housing the former wine cellar. In 1601 the building was extensively remodeled and equipped with stepped gables, and as police barracks, in 1872 the remains of wall paintings were discovered. After a renovation in 1735 the south facade was 1776 redesigned with a simple baroque, and n additional ceiling was set up and a second floor. From 1799 to 1802 the church buildings were among others used as a military hospital. Alread between 1637 and 1639 the ground floor in was used as an orphanage in the north, in the west wing a prison was set up in the former dormitories of the nuns. In 1771 the orphans were held in the newly built orphanage in the former monastery's garden, and the north and west wings were extensively needed to rebuilt sd a penitentiary and workhouse, separating the prison from the new orphanage. The former orphanage today serves as the official Stadthaus I at the present Waisenhausstrasse, meaning orphary lane.[1] When the remaining buildings of the Oetenbach nunnery were broken, the occasion was not used by the archaeologists to secure finds of the Oppidum Zürich-Lindenhof.[3] In 1903 the adjoint Oetenbachbollwerk bastion was broken as the last structure of the city's fortifications. The subsequent so called Gedecktes Brüggli served as a pedestrian bridge, and was broken in 1953.[4]

Architecture

The lack of space and the separation of prisoners by criminal categories ordered by the then new criminal law, ininiated the design and construction of a new detention center for modern principles, and so in the night of 8 to 9 October 1901, the prisoners were moved to the new prison Pöschwies in Regensdorf. In the same year, the remaining monastery area passed into the possession of the city of Zürich. The buildings were broken in 1901/02, but the Waisenhaus, meaning orphanage, was preserved in favor of an administrative center, that in 1904/1905 took place at the former Sihlbühl which then was separated by the easternly Uraniastrasse and the building complex housing the Urania Sternwarte. The building remained unused until 1911, and when the Stadthaushaus was rebuillt it became the present headquarters of the police department of the city of Zürich, meaning in German Stadtpolizei Zürich.[1]

Giacometti Halle

Gustav Gull integrated the Stadhaus building between 1911 and 1914 in the Urania complex, and the former cellar at the entrance floor of the Waisenhaus building was redesigned on behalf of Emil Klöti by Augusto Giacometti beween 1923 and 1925 with vault and wall paintings, which are considered as a work of art of national importance. On occasion of the total renovation of the office building, the so-called Giacometti Halle was extensively renovated from 1985 to 2000.[1]

Cultural Heritage

The building itself and Augusto Giacometti's wall painting are listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as Class A objects.[5]

Literature

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Martina Wehrli-Johns (2012-12-29). "Oetenbach" (in German). HDS. Retrieved 2015-01-11.
  2. ↑ Dölf Wild, Urs Jäggin, Felix Wyss (2006-12-31). "Die Zürcher Predigerkirche – Wichtige Etappen der Baugeschichte. Auf dem Murerplan beschönigt? – Untersuchungen an der Westfassade der Predigerkirche." (in German). Amt für Städtebau der Stadt Zürich. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  3. ↑ Dölf Wild (2009). "Zürcher City unter Wasser. Interaktion zwischen Natur und Mensch in der Frühzeit Zürichs" (in German). Hochdepartement der Stadt Zürich. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  4. ↑ Gebrüder Dürst. "Oetenbachbollwerk" (in German). Gang dur Alt-Züri. Retrieved 2015-01-22.
  5. ↑ "A-Objekte KGS-Inventar". Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, Amt für Bevölkerungsschutz. 2009. Retrieved 2015-01-13.

External links

Media related to Waisenhaus Zürich at Wikimedia Commons