The house was built on earlier foundations after the last village fire in 1560. Probably, at that time there were two elongated parallel barrack-like buildings in the height of 1-2 floors. The house with hairdresser's store attached to the south still has this shape today.
Josef Anton Keller and Maria Keller-Graf, my great-grandparents had bought the house about 125 years ago and ran a grocery store there. From then on it was called "Konsum Kellers". Some living areas of this house were rented out temporarily as guest rooms or for longer periods as rented apartments.
Two daughters of my great-grandfather, my great-aunt and grandmother, were already enthusiastic mountaineers and ski tourers from about 1912. They named the yellow house "Marwies" after a mountain in the Alpstein. Old skis and other mountaineering equipment are displayed in the stairwell as a reminder of this. Here and there you can see old advertisements or other material from the former grocery store.
In 1997 I was allowed to take over this house from my ancestors. For about twenty years the bookstore rented the store, and now the store evagrøn delights many customers with elegant and sustainable products. I lived on the upper floors with my partner at the time. Most of the rooms were in very basic condition and were hardly used, except now and then for a summer camp or workshop.
Future use
Ideally, I would like to live with 4-7 people in the future in some sort of co-housing, house-sharing, or temporary choice family where each person rents 1-2 rooms of the house, has their own bathroom, and shares 1-2 rooms. More than just renting rooms, I want us to cultivate some shared values, including friendship, tolerance, peacefulness, self-reflection and openness, as well as some caring for each other and the world, but without sacrificing ourselves for it or becoming sectarian. Independence, time for oneself personally and a good understanding with the environment also remain important. After the renovation, the house has retained the structure for an extended family and thus fits well into a house community. There will probably also be a guest room or a vacation apartment, so that fellow residents can invite their offspring, relatives or friends. The remaining guest rooms of this large family house are now waiting to accommodate suitable residents of the house community. In the off-season, it will be possible to try out living in the house or to participate in a workshop. The first floor and the cellar are still waiting to be rebuilt and put to new use. We could use the basement vault occasionally for cultural events, sports or yoga. Thus, the house allows for a variety of uses. More information can be found at https://integralweb.ch/dateien/HC_Marwies_-_Announcement_24-08-2022.pdf , perhaps later in a separate website.
I am looking forward to the new use. And if there is no suitable solution in the context of co-housing and co-working, the rooms can still be rented conventionally.
About me
I was born in 1958 and given the name Remigius, for which the short form Remi is common. As a child with my parents and later on my own, I lived in several areas of Switzerland and enjoyed getting to know foreign cultures on trips of several months. Lifelong learning has been my intention since I was a teenager or adult. My initial training as a secondary school teacher was later joined by cultural history, computer science, project management, coaching, training, couples and sexual counseling, and Eastern and Western meditation practices. I give workshops in house, in other venues, and online. From time to time I also publish on websites and in professional literature. For the past few years I have been reducing my professional activities and devoting more time to community service. Despite a lifetime of learning and various activities, I still know almost nothing about the world and life. It seems to be more the wisdom, serenity and gratitude for this life that is growing.
Restoration
Perhaps individual reader:s would be interested in hearing more of the renovation efforts to date and the current outcome. This gives me the opportunity to express my former passion as an art historian. This rebuilding process is an adventure and is coming out well thanks to the support of outstanding professionals.
In 2019, floors 2-4 were remodeled. The renovation on the second floor is still in progress. It should continue on the lower floors next year.
Despite the reconstruction, the house has retained its historic charm and can now also meet today's requirements for comfort and safety.
Insulation, stabilization and individual corrections have been successfully implemented. Floors, walls and ceilings have been restored. After the renovation, the old building fabric appears even more clearly and beautifully than before. We also chose natural building materials as much as possible and made sure that electrical wiring was well shielded to increase the comfort of living.
In one room, paintings with plant ornaments and old wallpaper have come to light. Restorers have stabilized the paintings, and the carpenters have covered them with a planking afterwards. On this panelling we will point out the paintings behind it by means of illustrations.
The eastern part of the house consists of an elongated stand construction with plank walls. The western part of the house is constructed in knitted construction.
Tiled stoves are still present in two rooms. The new electric stove in the kitchen joins the wood stove from the early 19th century. In six rooms the baroque wood panelling on the walls and ceiling is partly shown with profiled rods, while one of them is still about a hundred years older due to the easier processing. In one room a parlour buffet is installed. In one bedroom and in the upper two middle rooms the panelling from more recent times has been removed. There the original wooden construction can now be seen on the walls and ceilings. The middle room on the second floor has an early baroque coffered ceiling, which has been given a new coat of paint in red and green. In a small area, the earlier paint coats are shown.
When the old wooden floors were uncovered, narrow stairways from the basement were found in three places. On the upper floors, the floors were reinforced and insulated. Two rooms had their old wood floors re-planed, while new floors of wood or cork were installed in the remaining rooms.
In the attic, we were able to keep the old pulley system that we used to pull up firewood. The front windows and almost all of the previous windows were also allowed to remain and, in addition to better insulation, received a new coat of paint. The narrow, long corridor to the toilet on the second floor is still reminiscent of the old latrines of earlier centuries. The banisters of the stairs have been given a new coat of paint to match the coffered ceiling.
The staircase to the second floor after the restoration
The first floor is in the restoration phase February - June 2023. Photos show the parlor in the previous vacation apartment and next to it the current reconstruction:
I will sort out, give away, restore, possibly sell, dispose of, objects of the house. If you are interested, you are welcome to arrange an inspection with me.