Backsteinstadt Zürich

Building in facing brick saw a decisive revival in the late 19th century. When the industrial production of bricks met the building boom of the Wilhelminian period, this building technique was adopted on a broad scale. The colorful brick-faced façades of the turn of the century still characterize our built environment today and are part of the appearance of every major city in the German-speaking world.

With its approximately one thousand historic facing brick buildings, Zurich is probably the best-preserved "brick city" of this era. Since the metropolis on the Limmat was largely spared the destruction of the world wars, entire neighborhoods bear witness to the design and construction trends of the fin de siècle and make Zurich an excellent case study for the development of the so-called 'Verblendstein' technique.

This book is the result of a research project of theInstitute of Construction History and Preservation at the ETH Zurich. Based on archival research and a survey of the surviving building stock, it is the first book to provide a detailed account of the facing brick boom that began with the national exhibition in 1883 and its temporal, spatial and constructional dimensions. Richly illustrated with historical and new photographs, detailed views and diagrams, the book is a fundamental work on the history of the development of facing brick in Zurich. The research material is complemented by photographs of the Zurich photographer and "house collector" Friedrich Ruef-Hirt (1873- 1927) from the collections of the Zurich City Archives of Architectural History.