Haus zur Waage
The architecture of the embroidery era changed not only the western suburbs and the embroidery quarter, but also the upper part of the historic centre.
History:
With its baroque oriel tower, The «Waage» (Scales), overcomes the compact nature of the medieval alleys. The building comprises two pro-perties, «Zur Waage» and «Zur Goldenen Garbe» (The Golden Sheaf). With its five high stories – the highest hidden behind a stone balustrade – it opens a new architectural perspective for Multergasse, which, after 1900, enjoyed a boom as a shopping street.
Architecture:
Wendelin Heene, who originated in northern Bohemia (1855-1913), and who built the «Waage» for the cooperative society in 1903/04, was probably the most influential architect in St.Gallen in his day. Many of the most interesting large buildings built between the early 1890s and 1913 were designed by him. Though Heene’s roots lay in the strict historicism of the 19th Century, he can be credited with overcoming and renewing it both technically and architecturally in Eastern Switzerland. His most progressive work was his shop buildings on Multergasse (8, 14), which brought out the new technologies aesthetically, too, through bold openings and transparency. The prominence of his offices meant that leading architects in eastern Switzerland spent time working for him, including Carl Reitz, Carl Rudin, Otto Friedrich Broglie and others, whose influence mustn’t be underestimated.In the «Waage», the column construction is hidden with sandstone cladding, which is remarkable in its figural and ornamental fabrication. Pilaster grows out of the wall organically and leads to the ornamental frieze above. The five oversized, fully-formed sandstone heads, which represent the five continents, are particularly exceptional – masterpieces of the equally prolific Dutch mason Henri Gesbert Geene (1865-1950) in St.Gallen
Present-day use:
For years, the building housed the leading St. Gallen sportswear shop «Sport Sonderegger»; some locals still call the building by that name. Later, the Zurich-based ladieswear company Feldpausch (now a label of the PkZ group) took over the site; in 2011 the property under-went complete renovation.
With its baroque oriel tower, The «Waage» (Scales), overcomes the compact nature of the medieval alleys. The building comprises two pro-perties, «Zur Waage» and «Zur Goldenen Garbe» (The Golden Sheaf). With its five high stories – the highest hidden behind a stone balustrade – it opens a new architectural perspective for Multergasse, which, after 1900, enjoyed a boom as a shopping street.
Architecture:
Wendelin Heene, who originated in northern Bohemia (1855-1913), and who built the «Waage» for the cooperative society in 1903/04, was probably the most influential architect in St.Gallen in his day. Many of the most interesting large buildings built between the early 1890s and 1913 were designed by him. Though Heene’s roots lay in the strict historicism of the 19th Century, he can be credited with overcoming and renewing it both technically and architecturally in Eastern Switzerland. His most progressive work was his shop buildings on Multergasse (8, 14), which brought out the new technologies aesthetically, too, through bold openings and transparency. The prominence of his offices meant that leading architects in eastern Switzerland spent time working for him, including Carl Reitz, Carl Rudin, Otto Friedrich Broglie and others, whose influence mustn’t be underestimated.In the «Waage», the column construction is hidden with sandstone cladding, which is remarkable in its figural and ornamental fabrication. Pilaster grows out of the wall organically and leads to the ornamental frieze above. The five oversized, fully-formed sandstone heads, which represent the five continents, are particularly exceptional – masterpieces of the equally prolific Dutch mason Henri Gesbert Geene (1865-1950) in St.Gallen
Present-day use:
For years, the building housed the leading St. Gallen sportswear shop «Sport Sonderegger»; some locals still call the building by that name. Later, the Zurich-based ladieswear company Feldpausch (now a label of the PkZ group) took over the site; in 2011 the property under-went complete renovation.