Restaurant Morgenstern, Zurich

Excerpt from the yearbook 2009 (Roman Hollenstein):

“Before he [Wilhelm Fischer] finally moved in the direction of the Landi style and therefore opted for a moderately modern regionalism, he built a work with an urban flair, which although it had a modern feeling was hardly influenced at all by the “Dutch features” used by the leading Zurich architects of the time: the Restaurant Morgenstern. Today, carefully renovated, this building still stands at the corner of Letzigraben and Albisriederstrasse.

In accordance with the moderate modernism that was spreading through Zurich’s new districts at that time, Fischer modified the symmetry of the two main facades by placing a cubic and a semi-cylindrical element in front of them. The windows have roller blinds and the balconies slightly curved corners. Like the balcony slabs and railings, the detailing of frames of the asymmetrically positioned doors still uses decorative elements. In contrast the hipped roof with a surprisingly shallow pitch, which grows almost flush out of the facade, is hardly noticeable at all.”