DOI Heft:
No. 93 (November, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Mobbs, Robert: Swiss architecture and the work of Edmond Fatio
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26963#0037
Swiss Architecture
M. BOISSON NAS’S CHALET
E. FATIO, ARCHITECT
like a nest to the mountain ridge, a host of
alien constructions have sprung up side by side
with them in this Alpine world, many devoid
of all architectural value, others built in a
style or styles altogether out of keeping with
the landscape and its history, having no associa-
tions either in the soul of the people or the soil of
the country. Protests have been made by the in-
tellectual elite of the land, and in some quarters
the people are waking up, and beginning to
open their eyes. But, what is more interesting, a
movement that augurs well for the future has, for
some time past, been setting in from another
quarter. If the evil wrought by caprice and mere
commercial enterprise cannot be remedied, a good
is growing up which is destined to counteract its
influence. And this has its rise amongst the best
Swiss architects. Their aim is resolutely to break
with the cosmopolitan style a la mode in Europe,
and under the influence of which Italian and
Moresque villas have sprung up, even in the moun-
tains, side by side with the Swiss chalet, that native
of the soil. Their watchword is Swiss houses for
Switzerland. They are seeking to revive the models
left to them by their ancestors, and to adapt them
to modern exigencies. Amongst these architects one
of the most promising is Mr. Edmond Fatio of
Geneva. His brother, in the book to which we
have already referred, has rendered signal and
timely service to his fellow-countrymen by calling
to their attention just now the significance of
Swiss architecture in relation to the land, its history,
climate, customs and requirements.
Mr. Edmond Fatio, like other Swiss architects of
the same mind, is endeavouring in his work to
show how the best traditions Of the past are capable
of present-day application ; in a word, to resuscitate
a national art that has fallen into desuetude.
In his admirable articles on Swiss chalets in The
Architectural Record, Mr. Jean Schopfer says :—
“ The art of building in wood has flourished in
Switzerland to a special extent since the sixteenth
century. The finest specimens of wooden edifices
belong to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The chalets of those periods are those which have
the best ornamentation and present the most per-
fect styles. The farmers’ chalets of our own day
are not so rich, nor in such impeccable taste. It
is for the edifices of the upper classes to continue
the sound traditions of the eighteenth century. All
21
M. BOISSON NAS’S CHALET
E. FATIO, ARCHITECT
like a nest to the mountain ridge, a host of
alien constructions have sprung up side by side
with them in this Alpine world, many devoid
of all architectural value, others built in a
style or styles altogether out of keeping with
the landscape and its history, having no associa-
tions either in the soul of the people or the soil of
the country. Protests have been made by the in-
tellectual elite of the land, and in some quarters
the people are waking up, and beginning to
open their eyes. But, what is more interesting, a
movement that augurs well for the future has, for
some time past, been setting in from another
quarter. If the evil wrought by caprice and mere
commercial enterprise cannot be remedied, a good
is growing up which is destined to counteract its
influence. And this has its rise amongst the best
Swiss architects. Their aim is resolutely to break
with the cosmopolitan style a la mode in Europe,
and under the influence of which Italian and
Moresque villas have sprung up, even in the moun-
tains, side by side with the Swiss chalet, that native
of the soil. Their watchword is Swiss houses for
Switzerland. They are seeking to revive the models
left to them by their ancestors, and to adapt them
to modern exigencies. Amongst these architects one
of the most promising is Mr. Edmond Fatio of
Geneva. His brother, in the book to which we
have already referred, has rendered signal and
timely service to his fellow-countrymen by calling
to their attention just now the significance of
Swiss architecture in relation to the land, its history,
climate, customs and requirements.
Mr. Edmond Fatio, like other Swiss architects of
the same mind, is endeavouring in his work to
show how the best traditions Of the past are capable
of present-day application ; in a word, to resuscitate
a national art that has fallen into desuetude.
In his admirable articles on Swiss chalets in The
Architectural Record, Mr. Jean Schopfer says :—
“ The art of building in wood has flourished in
Switzerland to a special extent since the sixteenth
century. The finest specimens of wooden edifices
belong to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The chalets of those periods are those which have
the best ornamentation and present the most per-
fect styles. The farmers’ chalets of our own day
are not so rich, nor in such impeccable taste. It
is for the edifices of the upper classes to continue
the sound traditions of the eighteenth century. All
21