The chalet, its history and future

22 November 2024

What exactly is a ‘chalet’? Are there features that make the cosy wooden house a chalet? Is it the knitted construction or the wide overhanging roof? Or the geraniums in front of the windows or the roof beams? Or is the ‘chalet’ just a symbol and allusion to a longing for Alpine nature and, therefore, an invention, a myth?

In the French-speaking regions of Switzerland, simple mountain huts were called chalets until the 18th century. The first landscape gardens in England were created in the 18th century. Buildings from around the world enriched these gardens, including the ‘chalet’ type from the Swiss mountains. English aristocrats had come to know and appreciate these chalets as tourists.

In Switzerland and other European countries, the luxury chalet style only began flourishing in the second half of the 19th century. They were now adapted to the needs of wealthy and upper-class citizens. Catalogues across Europe offered prefabricated chalets, which were built in ‘chaletfactories’.

Open Air Museum (Freilichtmuseum) Ballenberg, affiche end 19th century eeuw, chalets for sale

The exhibition in the Villa Patumbah has three central points: nostalgia, kitsch, and architecture. It shows how the chalet became a romantic image of desire and outlines the path from the ‘Laubsägeli chalet’ to an export hit. Lastly, the exhibition presents current projects that reinterpret the chalet. The Gelbe Haus Flims set up the exhibition.

(Quelle und weitere Informationen: Schweizer Heimatschutz)