Villa Merian

The Villa Merian stands with her English garden on the high plateau of the Merian Park in a recreation area Brüglinger plane in Munich stone ( in the area Birseck ), ( Basel-Country ) at the cantonal border to Basel. Today it houses the Café Merian.

History

In 1711 the manor house was built above the pond in the style of an old baroque small castle country on behalf of Alexander Löffler. The two storey building was covered by a hipped roof and off the north facade lay a courtyard, in the south there was a tree garden. On the west side were a miscarriage tower and a gardener's cottage. On the back of a polygonal stair tower was grown.

In 1801 the house was rebuilt in the style of early classicism. Stair tower and abortion were removed. The staircase was moved to the interior of the house. A garden shed with an arbor over it was built on the back. Above the entrance is a portico has been set and the old roof a penthouse floor was drafted and put on. About ten years later the estate of Christoph Merian -Hoffmann was acquired and in 1824 received his son Christoph Merian the estate Brüglingen as a wedding gift. The Villa Merian was used as a summer residence.

In the Lower Brüglingen a module is connected to a mill from the 15th century, on the other side of the pond a tenant house from the 16th century and a gardener's house (1824 ).

Created in 1837 by the architect Melchior Berri on behalf of Christoph Merian north of the manor house, in front Brüglingen, a tenant house and a farm building. The plateau offered an ideal site for the English garden. On the southern front garden of the Villa Merian the parkland that extends up to the New World begins.

In the years 1858/59 Christoph Merian left the villa in the style of the Second Empire to rebuild. The Basel architect Johann Jakob Stehlin the Younger was charged with the reconstruction of the villa. The proposed new building by the architect was discarded, and this was limited to a conversion. The old wall core was achieved with plaster, stucco and cast iron. The ground floor was covered with square imitations and provide the upstairs window with acroteria. Cornice strips divided the floors and flat pilasters framed a the corners. Instead of the recessed attic storey facade a flush Attica came with a flat roof. On the First, a bell tower was built in Neurokokostil. The portico at the entrance was replaced by a two-story, cast- iron gazebo, which serves as a canopy well as balcony. On the back, overlooking the garden, a three-axis cast iron center section was an open hall, which has been covered with artificial marble, built to replace the arbor. A new, more elegant staircase with ornate wrought-iron rods was created inside, but the room arrangement remained virtually unchanged.

Although Christoph Merian died in 1858 during the renovation, but the villa was still used as a summer residence by the widow Margaretha Merian Burckhardt anyway. After her death on May 3, 1886, the Christoph Merian Foundation became final and took Brüglingen with the five tenant farms ( Singerhof, St. Jacob, brick hut, bottom and front Brüglingen ).

1889 drew a convalescent station of the Civil Hospital of Basel in the villa and it became a convalescent home for convalescent women.

Presence

In 1967 the decision, the villa and the associated Merian parks in the city of Basel ( for a period of 100 years free of charge ) to the creation of a botanical garden was to provide.

In the area Brüglingen the Green 80 took place in 1980, the 2nd Swiss exhibition for gardening and landscaping. The remains of the former plant now serve as popular recreational area. Here in the redesigned Merian Park is the Botanical Garden Brüglingen. The 135,000 m2 garden area is a habitat for plants and housed a large botanical collections and Medicinal Plant Garden. In addition, the area offers play areas for children as well as a recreation room for adults. At St. Alban Pond is a late Gothic mill, now used as a mill museum Brüglingen, and on the top of the stables which today house a significant Carriage and sleigh museum.

With regard to the " Green 80 " took place during the years 1977 and 1978 the expansion of the café Merian. Since then has been again rebuilt and renovated. The cast iron verandas on both sides of the villa were indeed removed, but the repair of the remaining cast iron components as well as the interior was much value. In the basement, various demolition work have been made to install new toilet facilities in the café. In addition, the previously unused vaulted cellar was given a new spatial quality, which allows for different uses. The painted and stuccoed ceiling with gilded ornaments painted wood paneling, ceiling and Supra Port medallions and parquet floors have been completely restored.

The previously degraded (but still existing ) neoclassical tower furnace was re-erected in the salon. In the hall and in the garden shed and the unchanged first floor of the floor and the wall, and ceiling surfaces were repaired. In the attic the existing walls and fixtures were broken and removed, the roof completely newly isolated and replaces the skylight. Three seminar rooms have been set up in the attic. These rooms are separated by a central zone. In this zone, a toilet facility, a cloakroom and a small storage room were established.