In 1873, two years after the train line opened, the Rigi Railway Company built the Hotel Rigi-Bahn at the valley station in Vitznau. It was meant to offer the many visitors to the famous lookout mountain an ideally situated place to eat and spend the night.
The building, with walls made of exposed brick and decorated with various pilaster strips and moldings, had a main floor, one floor above that and an attic with more guest rooms.
A semi-opened garden area and a terrace with chestnut trees directly on the lakeshore provided a quiet place to wait for the train or boat.
In 1901, another floor was added to the building and the façades were altered with new balconies while the window frames were simplified. The canted southwest corner was graced with a small turret with a pointed spire.
In 1931, the side of the hotel facing the lake was completely transformed. The terrace and the lounge were torn down and replaced by an extension designed by the Lucerne architect Arnold Berger. The skeletal, semi-circular rotunda in reinforced concrete, standing on supports and jutting out into the lake, is one of the finest examples of "Neues Bauen" in central Switzerland.
Simultaneously, the main building was "purified" to fit the spirit of the times. The corner turret was removed, a hipped with skylights was added, the façades lost all decorative forms and were painted in light green.
Since 1983, a public footpath placed in front of the semi-circular building has spoiled the elegant appearance of the overall complex.
Following the renovation of the façades in 2001 by the previous owners, today's proprietors extensively renovated the interior of the hotel in 2011/12. Many rooms feature restored parquet floors, historic furniture, wallpaper and colors in line with the past. The restored entrance hall with its historic terrazzo floor deserves particular mention.
The Terrasse am See has been member of Swiss Historic Hotels since 2008.
Text by Dr. Roland Flückiger-Seiler,
ETH-trained architect and architectural historian. He has had many years of experience as a curator of historic buildings and monuments as well as an independent researcher of the history of architecture and tourism in Switzerland. Author of two definitive reference works on the history of Swiss Hotels and tourism. "Hotelträume" and "Hotelpaläste". www.historischehotels.ch
Die Rigibahn hat die Entwicklung des Dorfes entscheidend beeinflusst.
Noch bis in die Mitte des 19. Jh. hinein war Vitznau ein kleines
verschlafenes Fischerdörfchen.
Die Trinkhalle ganz links im Bild ist der Vorgänger des Hotel Terrasse. An diesem Standort wird später das Hotel Restaurant Rigibahn erbaut und 1873 eröffnet.
Nachfolgend Auszüge aus dem Prachtalbum "Der Vierwaldstättersee und die Urkantone" erschienen 1898 im Schweizerischen Buch & Kunstverlang Zürich:
Die unterschiedlichen Stiche lassen viel Spielraum für Fantasien und verschiedenste räumliche Vorstellungen.
Die Ufer des Vierwaldstättersees werden in Vitznau erst im 20. Jahrhundert "besiedelt". Zuvor galten die Uferpartien als "schlechtes Land".
Zwei Jahre nach Inbetriebnahme der Zahnradbahn wird das heutige Hotel als Teil des Bahnhofensembles von der Rigibahngesellschaft an exponierter Stelle am Ufer des Vierwaldstättersees erbaut.
Das geschützte Wandbild von Eduard Renggli im Rondel enstand 1932 nach dem grossen Umbau des Architekten Arnold Berger und wurde 2001 von Ronald Kocher restauriert.
Ehemalige und aktuelle Gastgeber: Familie Fassbind sowie Pia und Roland Scherrer Nussbaumer.
Die 140-jährige Geschichte des Hotel-Restaurant Rigibahn, Hotel Terminus und Hotel Terrasse am See dargestellt durch den Architektur- und Hotelhistoriker Dr. Roland Flückiger-Seiler. www.historischehotels.ch
Bahnhofstrasse 2
CH-6354 Vitznau
+41 41 397 10 33
info@hotel-terrasse.ch
Bahnhofstrasse 2
CH-6354 Vitznau
+41 41 397 10 33
info@hotel-terrasse.ch