Attention, monument!
“Witness of motorization”: Basel government places Gellert Garage under protection
The garage building on the St. Alban site was built during the economic boom after the Second World War. Its facade stands out. In addition to the garage, the Basel government has also placed a park and a church under protection.
Unique in Basel: the Gellert Garage with its ornamental stone façade.
Bild: Kenneth Nars
The Gellert Garage on St. Alban-Anlage is not quite as well known as the other large Basel garage with a driveable roof that was demolished long ago, the Schlotterbeck Garage. But this building also stands out with its ornamental façade: the white shaped stones form a regular pattern of crosses and squares.
The Basel Heritage Society has long insisted that the Gellert Garage be preserved. The Basel government is now complying with this wish. It announced on Tuesday that it had decided to enter the property at St. Alban-Anlage 72/Sevogelstrasse 26, 28 in the cantonal register of monuments. It justified the step by saying that the garage was “an expression of the motorized age” and “represents an early architectural witness to the automobile revolution from the economic boom period after the Second World War.”
The owner of the property is Asag Auto-Service AG. It belonged to Fritz Meyer Holding until it was sold to the Amag Group in 2018. Fitz Meyer, originally a carter, entered the mineral oil trade in Basel in the mid-1920s and co-founded Avia, today the largest petrol station chain in Switzerland.
Asag wanted to rebuild, but was not allowed
Asag had long been dissatisfied with its former showpiece building from 1951, built according to plans by Hans Müller. It intended to add an extra floor to the garage and convert two floors into offices. The curved driveways inside would have been an obstacle to this plan. Such driveable buildings are now a rarity, at least in Basel.
Not visible from the outside: Inside there are access ramps and parking spaces on the roof.
Bild: Kenneth Nars
The government council already determined this in 2010. In an advice to the Grand Council on the establishment of a development plan for the property, it stated: “The reason for the inventory of the Gellert garage is the (current) uniqueness of the type of building it embodies in Basel: a large, driveable garage.”
Concessions have apparently been made to Asag. As the government also announced on Tuesday, the owner has agreed to the protection. And: “Their wish for structural changes was taken into account in the protection negotiations.” What these changes are is not specified.
Titus Church and a park in Riehen
The Titus Church on the Bruderholz and a park in Riehen are also included in the inventory. According to the government council, the Titus Church, built between 1962 and 1964 by Benedikt Huber, “exemplifies the efforts of the Reformed Church to renew itself after the Second World War.”
Closer to God with lots of concrete: the Titus Church on the Bruderholz.
Image: Yuri Junkov/Archive
The inventory of the third property comes as little surprise. It is the Iselin-Weber Park at Bachtelenstrasse 5 to 9 in the northwest of Riehen. The Fondation Beyeler announced its plans for the extension in 2015. It also wants to acquire the surrounding park and protect it from overbuilding. This has now happened.
The surrounding park is now protected: new building of the Fondation Beyeler (the photo is from last February).
Bild: Kenneth Nars
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