Bullingerplatz

Bullingerplatz is a public square in Zurich’s District Four, at the centre of the Hard neighbourhood. Its name honours Heinrich Bullinger, a sixteenth-century leader of Zurich’s church.

The square brings together Sihlfeldstrasse, Zypressenstrasse, Bullingerstrasse and Stauffacherstrasse in a star-shaped street plan. Several streets meet here at noticeably varied angles. Sihlfeldstrasse crosses the square diagonally, while Stauffacherstrasse curves towards it as a broad avenue. That layout reflects Renaissance ideas about the ideal city.

Bullinger Church and the parish community centre anchor the square among residential blocks from the interwar period. The church was rebuilt during the nineteen fifties. Housing cooperatives developed these buildings after the Seebahn railway line moved below ground. The change opened space for streets, squares and affordable homes in a growing Zurich neighbourhood. The surrounding architecture records a civic response to housing shortages after the First World War. Shops, restaurants and community facilities give the Hard neighbourhood an everyday residential setting.