Davos City Tour

STATIONS IN DAVOS (Author Klaus Bergamin)

Heimtatmuseum / Grosses Jenatschhaus
This house from the 16th century is reminiscent of the living culture and standard of living of wealthy Davos families, who no longer built their houses in the style of simple Walser houses, but in the style of rich Engadine houses. The house was built for a Beeli family, then came to the Sprecher family and was expanded in 1650 by a son of Jörg Jenatsch. In 1740 the house was acquired by the community and served as a rectory (Pfrundhaus), later also as a schoolhouse, from 1878 it served as a tenement house. Restored in 1937 and since 1942 local history museum.
In addition to the magnificent bed with the coat of arms of the Jenatsch from the Lower Jenatschhaus, you will also find the Täferstube from the Upper Jenatschhaus.

Château Bruxelles
Like tens of thousands of Swiss, many Davos residents sought their fortune abroad at the end of the 19th century. In addition to Europe, popular emigration destinations were Russia and America. One of these emigrants was Hans Buol, who had prospered as a confectioner in Brussels and had this castle built of Belgian sandstone and flüela granite in 1905. After his death in 1922, it was acquired by his nephew Christian Künzli, who had emigrated to Birmingham as a chocolate manufacturer. From 1932 - 1950 children from England in need of recreation stayed at Château Bruxelles. Then a Dutch family ran a bed-and-breakfast hotel here, later becoming Café Romantica, before the castle was modernized in 1975 and converted into condominiums.

Hotel Seehof
Traces point to the settlement period of the Walser in the 13th century. As early as 1410, the residence of the then Landammann was here. Around 1600, the wooden parts were given a facing wall. This was in line with the standard of the leading Davos families. In 1770 the building was extended to a patrician house. Then the house was rebuilt and in 1869 the hotel and Kurhaus was opened. After the expansion of 1876, the house had 62 rooms and was henceforth called Hotel and Kurhaus Davos Dörfli, since 1900 Hotel Seehof. During the reconstruction of 1991, the original building forms were retained as far as possible

Church St.Theodul
St. Theodul / St. Joder was patron saint of the Walser. In his honor, the church was built around 1350. Almost at the same time as St. Johann in Davos Platz - in 1514 - a largely new church with the present choir and the Gothic vault was built. In 1913 the church was fundamentally rebuilt. On the ground floor of today's tower is the choir of the first building with valuable medieval paintings, which were restored in 1986.
Until 1881, the dead were buried in the meadow behind the church. Since then, the cemetery has been located above the village.

Upper Jenatschhaus
The house was built in 1634 by the army commander Georg (Jörg) Jenatsch. On the façade we find the coats of arms of the Jenatsch-Buol from 1634. The house was mainly inhabited by a son of Jörg Jenatsch. Already in 1642 it came to his descendants and now serves the fraction community as a parish hall. After the renovations of 1886 and 1954, only the vaults in the basement and ground floor remained. The magnificent Täferstube with coffered ceiling can be found today in the local history museum.
Unteres Jenatschaus1525 this house was built by the governor Andreas Sprecher in the style of old Engadine houses. Georg Jenatsch, who was an army commander in Graubünden and Valtellina during the 30 Years' War, bought the house in 1628 and lived here until 1636. Then the family moved to Chur. Jenatsch was murdered in 1639. His wife and children returned to Davos. The descendants determined the political events of Davos and the 3 Federations for years. In 1783 Paul Jenatsch, an officer in Dutch service, sold the house to Anton Hercules, spokesman of Bernegg. Since 1884, the building has been owned by the Branger family and their descendants.

Herz Jesu Church
After the expansion of the Flüela Pass road, the alpine owner of Tschuggen had the chapel Maria zum Schnee built below the Flüela Pass in 1870 as the first catholic church in the Davos countryside. In 1892, the Catholic Marienkirche in Davos Platz was built. In 1870, 68 Catholics lived in Davos, in 1900 already in 2700. In 1915, the Herz Jesu Church was built as the third catholic church. Due to the outbreak of the 1st World War and the associated unemployment, the construction of the new church could be completed within a year. G. Berther, who had renovated the Marienkirche am Platz in 1979, was commissioned in 1984 to fundamentally restore the Village Heart of Jesus Church.

Villa Silvana
built in 1890 by Joos Wolf. From 1922 to 1951, the upper floors of this villa were rented with the help of public funds from the Swiss Research Institute for High Altitude Physiology and Tuberculosis Research Foundation and converted into a research laboratory. The scientific work was financed by the tourist tax, which had been introduced by the municipality in the same year. From 1922 to 1934 Institute of Altitude Physiology under the direction of Professor A. Loewy, from 1934 to 1950 pathological-anatomical research institute with a focus on tuberculosis and its pathogens. From 1934 - 1937 the institute was headed by Professor Roulet, from 1938 - 1950 under the direction of Professor Berblinger, who previously held the Chair of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Jena. In 1951, the foundation succeeded in buying the Villa Fontana at Upper Str. 22B and setting it up as a pathological institute. In 1996, Haus Silvana was extensively renovated by the architects Krähenbühl.

English Church
of St. Luke was built from 1882 - 1883 by the English colony in the style of a neo-Romanesque mountain church. The church of St. Luke was sold to the Free Evangelical Community in 1980. From time to time, services are still held in English in this church today.
The construction of the Hotel Belvédère, which was built at the insistence of an Englishman according to the latest findings for British requirements, speaks of the strong presence of the English. In order to be among themselves, the now demolished hotels Carlton, Angleterre and Viktoria were built. English athletes in Davos were the first to start competing in various winter sports.

The English Quarter
In 1869, the first English guest came to Davos and, after a long short break, had a villa built in Davos Dorf. In 1878, the first book about Davos was published in England, and a little later more and more English people travelled here to be cured of tuberculosis. Many Englishmen built houses in the area. This is how the English Quarter was born. From 1891 - 1939 the English had a consulate here. With 6000 volumes, they owned the largest library on the continent (at today's Kirchner Museum) and operated the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium from 1909 to 1914. From 1922 to 2005 this became the Thurgauisch-Schaffhausische Heilstätte.

The Russian colony
At the turn of the century, in addition to a particularly large number of Germans and Englishmen, more than 3,000 Russians lived in Davos. Like the English, they also had their own library, their own concerts, a Russian theatre and the magazine "Davosskij Westnik" (Davos Messenger). Wealthy Russians lived mainly in the now demolished Hotel Bernina, others were for a cure in the folk sanatorium "Villa Anna Maria" at Obere Strasse 14. Due to the outbreak of war in 1914, the construction of a Russian church at Scalettastrasse 8 was stopped.

Wilhelm Schwerzmann
The sculptor Wilhelm Schwerzmann, born in Zug in 1877, died in Orselina in 1966, created the fountain complex at the entrance to the spa park for the state exhibition in Bern in 1914. The animal figures were not created until 1940/41. Schwerzmann created many lasting works in Davos, such as the relief at the southern entrance gate on Kurgartenstrasse, the sculpture "wild man", which was created in 1913 for the new building of the Kantonalbank (today a building of the cantonal police) and the wooden sculptures in the town hall hall. Schwerzmann also designed the "Bubenbrunnen" at Postplatz (1928) and the "Skisturzbrunnen" near the church of St. Theodul in Davos Dorf, which was commissioned by the dorf parliamentary group in 1936 as a reminder of the 500th anniversary of the Zehngerichtebund. In the cemetery of Davos Dorf, the tomb of the "Baumeister Mai" (1931) and in the Forest Cemetery the "Resting Place of the Lonely" (1926) and various other gravestones commemorate the work of the artist Wilhelm Schwerzmann.

Kurpark
At the suggestion of the then spa director, Hans Valär (author of the dialect book "Dr. Türligiiger"), the Kurverein bought the spa garden grounds with an area of 52,000 square meters in 1913. As a resul...