Bürgli

Bürgli is a freestanding late-classicist house in Zurich’s Enge district, standing on a hill above the left bank of Lake Zurich. Its symmetrical façades rise above the city rooftops.

A broad green setting surrounds the building, while a vineyard covers the southwest slope beside the architecture. Three full floors sit beneath a gently sloping hipped roof.

The house replaced an earlier tower-like country residence, and the Landolt family’s Engemer branch has held it since the seventeenth century. Gottfried Keller lived here with his sister, sharing an apartment upstairs.

During his residence, Keller wrote the second version of Der grüne Heinrich, linking Bürgli’s rooms with Zurich’s literary history. The garden reaches towards Bellevue and the Glarus Alps.

Bürgli also houses a restaurant with seasonal cooking, local suppliers, garden herbs, and choices for meat, fish, and vegetarian dishes. The restaurant combines traditional elements with modern colour and space.

A garden terrace and banquet rooms extend the use of the heritage-protected building beyond its residential history. Bürgli connects architecture, landscape, literature, and dining in one Zurich setting.