page_title: Herrengasse 23 (Bern)
section_title: Architectural appraisal
hierarchical_section_title: Herrengasse 23 (Bern) / Architectural appraisal
caption_attribution_description: English: House at Herrengasse 23, Bern, west facade. Built 1690 by Abraham I. Dünz for David Salomon von Wattenwyl, rebuilt around 1756 by Erasmus Ritter in late Louis XV style.
context_page_description: The von Wattenwyl house on Herrengasse 23 is a historic building in Bern, Switzerland, named after the von Wattenwyl family who owned it for over 200 years.
  The building was constructed during the Middle Ages, incorporating some older neighbouring properties; these can still seen in the eastern range of the house.
  Over time, the house changed owners several times, and various design changes were effected. The first major reconstruction was in 1690, with further changes executed between 1730 and 1740. The most notable of these was made in 1760 by the eminent Bernese architect, Erasmus Ritter, for the building's then owner, David Salomon von Wattenwyl. A fountain by Ritter, in the form of a carved pillar surmounted by a vase, remains in front of the house.
context_section_description: The principal (northern) façade, seen today, of 23 Herrengrasse was designed by Erasmus Ritter shortly after 1756 for David Salomon von Wattenwyl, who had acquired the property that year. It is probable that the purpose of the new façade was to unify and disguise the various amalgamations and building work which had taken place over the preceding seventy years.
  The architectural form selected was the classical North European Baroque style, typical of the period. The house is considered one of Ritter's most important works. The mansion comprises four floors, the uppermost being an attic in a steep mansard roof. The principal façade is of five bays. On the two floors just above the ground floor, each bay is divided by a shallow pilaster. The three central bays are given prominence by the addition of capitals to the central five pilasters. The two terminating bays at two floors above the ground floor are painted in a buff tint, contrasting with uniformity of the grey stone of the remainder of the façade; this again adds emphasis to the central three bays.
  The ground floor is rusticated with a segmented casement window in each bay. The ground floor elevation is broken by seven shallow protrusions, these support each of the pilasters dividing the bays above. Unusually, the central bay does not contain the principal entrance, this is in the right-hand terminating bay.
  On the next floor above, a piano nobile is suggested by the windows being slightly taller than the casements below and above. The three central windows, adorned with balconies, are segmented, while the two terminating windows have a less pronounced curve to their tops, this accentuates the slightly larger widths of the terminating bays are wider than the central. This rhythm is repeated on the floor above it. The house is dominated by a mansard roof, broken at its centre to contain the segmented pediment which provided focus and prominence to the central bay below. The pediment displays the coat of arms of the family who lived within. The severity of the mansard is relieved by four oculus windows; these are placed above each of the bays flanking the central bay.
  Baroque ornament on the façade is chaste, and is confined to keystones above windows, a sculpted relief swag above the central window of the piano nobile, the capitals of the central pilasters and the coat of arms within the pediment.
caption: The western façade of Herrengasse 23
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