Hotel Schlüssel since 1545
from Anton Kottmann
The Lucerne hospitality industry
In the Middle Ages, the inn trade was generally on a low level; better hospitality was provided in town houses and monasteries. Markets and marketplaces attracted strangers who wanted food, drink and bed; this was a good source of money for a town or village, which is why there was a call for proper inns and hostelries. The city authorities also had an interest in this: on the one hand, they often maintained a wine and beer cellar themselves, the "Ratskeller", and on the other, they were concerned about good order in the hospitality industry that would benefit the city. For this reason, the oldest council booklet of the city of Lucerne from the 14th century already contains various regulations on innkeepers' rights, opening hours and the quality of drinks. Subsequently, the council had to issue mandates and regulations time and again, especially when there was an increase in misdemeanors and excesses; the most important law appeared under the name "Reformation" in 1671 and 1685. Such regulations were also published in the 18th century and up to the present day and were enforced with varying degrees of success. From 1392 to 1874, innkeepers had to pay the Lucerne Council the so-called "Ohmgeld", popularly known as "Umgeld", a tax on the retail sale of wine, and later also on beer, cider and spirits; in 1392 it amounted to 16 shillings per hem (equivalent to 150 liters) of wine. It goes without saying that the "Ohmgeld" was repeatedly the cause of long disputes between innkeepers and the authorities.
Over the course of time, various types of taverns developed in Lucerne:
Guild houses
run by "Stubenknechten": Evening drinks, banquets, but no hospitality or accommodation for strangers. Examples: Marksmen, blacksmiths, shoemakers
Taverns
Full host rights with accommodation, hot and cold food, banquets, sale via the alley. Examples: Rother Ochsen, Schlüssel, Krone
Pints
Also known as "Buschenschenken": Serving wine, cider and beer, only cheese and bread, sold via the alley; no inn, except for boatmen on market days and for pilgrims on the Musegg circuit. Examples: Hecht, Laterne, Zum ussern Weggis
Dairy houses (since the mid-18th century)
Shelter, as well as bread and cheese, but no hot and cold food
In older times, the owners of inns often came from the good middle class, sometimes even from the city's patriciate: for example, we come across representatives of the Pfyffer, Sonnenberg and Fleckenstein families among the innkeepers. Until the middle of the 16th century, several innkeepers sat on Lucerne's Grand and even Small Council. It was not possible to make a living as an innkeeper alone, so all innkeepers also practiced another trade or were involved in commerce. We often find butchers, wine merchants, bakers and cattle dealers. Peter Zukäs and Hans Krämer used their profession as innkeepers as a springboard into politics, even rising to the office of mayor.
Figures for Lucerne:
1393: 28 taverns, 28 pubs
1567: 11 taverns, 8 guild houses
1683: 36 taverns, 12 taverns
1793: 30 taverns, 11 taverns, 5 milk houses
The oldest inns in Lucerne are:
1332: Metzgern at Weinmarkt 3
1350: Roter Ochsen (until 1573) near the town hall tower; Goldener Adler at Rössligasse 2
1371: Pfistern (guild hall) at Kornmarkt
1374: Yellow Cross, Bahnhofstrasse 1
Building history
The Gasthaus Schlüssel is located in the row of houses between Burgerstrasse and Barfüssergasse or Barfüsserplatz, in late medieval Lucerne between the Krienser and Burgertor gates. According to an old tradition, the original wooden houses were brought from Rothenburg to Lucerne around 1386 after the town was destroyed. In 1544, the Lucerne Council had several dilapidated buildings demolished and new stone buildings erected; part of the square now remained empty. In the first quarter of the 16th century, Barfüsserplatz was extended and, according to Cysat, a fountain was erected to supply water to the population living there, on the base of which a little flag painted by Hans Holbein was placed in 1519. Behind it stood a row of little houses inhabited by grocers and where for a time the Brotschal was located, a building in which the council provided the bakers with benches for sale in return for an annual fee. The little houses were replaced in 1720 by a large building, which was rebuilt in 1845-49 in the late neoclassical style and has housed the cantonal finance department since 1951, when the central library was built. 1544 was probably the year in which the Schlüssel and the tavern "Zum weissen Wind" next to it were built and given the right to run the inn. Conrad von Laufen, the first Schlüssel landlord, was probably involved in the construction. On September 5, 1545, he asked the envoys of the five Catholic towns gathered in Lucerne for coat of arms discs for his inn. Whether and what he received is not known.
In keeping with the taste of the time, buildings in Lucerne were still built in the late Gothic style, but Renaissance elements were added. The narrow Gothic main building probably originally comprised two floors in addition to the first floor. According to investigations by the cantonal heritage authorities, significant parts of the late Gothic structure have been preserved to this day. For example, in the hall on the second floor, which occupies the entire width of the house and once had stacked windows on the side facing Barfüsserplatz. Here, arched window recesses with screwed Gothic window columns were discovered and restored; the wooden field ceiling probably dates from the 17th century. On the south wall was a stone vault with an ogee arch and an iron door, on which the date 1544 and a stonemason's mark are engraved. This hall served as the first schoolroom for the Jesuits in 1574, as is noted on a beam.
The hotel entrance is also interesting because of its Renaissance-style sandstone door surround. It is a shell lunette with the small emblem of two crossed Schlüssels, framed by an engraved arch. The arch is supported by the heads of a lion and a lioness. Two grotesque dragon creatures lie on the arch.
So there have been more or less successful conversions in every century. In 1888, Georg Weibel had the eastern part of the house raised to 15.80 meters; Franz von Moos built an iron balcony on the third floor in 1896, and in 1903 Mrs. Rodel added three rooms in the attic facing Burgerstrasse. After Anton Notz had erected a glass canopy on the Burgerstrasse side in 1909/10, a major conversion was carried out around 1912. Since then, all the owners have repeatedly made structural alterations, whereby the one from 1986 is significant because some original decorative elements were found and restored with the help of the cantonal monument preservation office.
Hotel and Restaurant Schlüssel
16th century
As mentioned above, today's Schlüssel restaurant was built around 1544/45 and granted tavern rights. The first landlord family mentioned were the von Laufen family. Originally from Sempach, Conrad von Laufen was naturalized in Lucerne around 1531 and married Anna Margaretha Göldlin von Tiefenau in 1515, the widow of Johann Baptist Cysat, who died in 1549, and mother of the late town clerk Renward Cysat. She bore him four children: Hans, Rochus, Afra and Agnes. While she had lived with her husband and children in her parents' Göldlin house during her first marriage, she now moved into the Schlüssel and became a landlady. Conrad was an affable innkeeper who was not always careful in his speeches and dealings with guests, which caused him various annoyances and several citations before the council. He died around 1561 and Mrs. Margaretha now lived in very poor circumstances. Her son Renward now took care of her and his half-siblings, in particular Hans von Laufens. He helped the mother with money and advice so that she could continue to stay in the Schlüssel. As we shall see, she was the soul of the tavern almost until the end of her life in 1587.
Hans probably succeeded him, who married Anna Marty in his first marriage. When the wedding was celebrated in 1584, after the large wedding feast with allegedly 420 guests in the Schlüssel, there was a post-celebration party for 76 invitees, at which everyone was allowed to eat and drink for 23 guilders. Hans stood before the council even more often than his father to give an account of quarrels, bad language and poor treatment of the guests. It was only thanks to the mediation of his half-brother Renward that he avoided prison sentences and being banned from being a landlord, especially when he was accused of beating his second wife, Anna Knab. Hans was also unable to manage money; he repeatedly fell into debt. After Renward's death in 1614, he felt compelled to lease the Schlüssel, but had no luck there either. His son Leodegar, who became a pharmacist with Renward's help and was able to acquire the pharmacy on the Weinmarkt, was a ray of hope.
At the time when Mrs. Margaretha von Laufen, widowed Göldlin, was the keeper of the Schlüssel, the inn had the honor of hosting high-ranking clerical guests on several occasions. In 1570, the holy Cardinal Carlo BorromeoArchbishop of Milan, stayed there. At the time, he was on a visitation trip to the Catholic Confederates to strictly enforce the resolutions of the Council of Trent. On the morning of August 22, 1570, Landammann Melchior Lussi from Stans reported to the Lucerne mayor Helmlin that the Cardinal would be arriving in Lucerne that evening at around 6 p.m., where he would like to take lodgings. If he was staying at the Schlüssel with his party of 12, it was probably at the suggestion of Renward Cysat, because the Lucerne Council could not make arrangements at such short notice. After intensive discussions with the councillors and clergy, the cardinal traveled on to Zug two days later, not without first expressing his satisfaction with the hospitality and service in Lucerne.
From 1574-1578, the Schlüssel housed the Jesuits and their students. This is how it came about: Although the arrival of the "Jesuit Fathers" had been eagerly awaited in Lucerne, when they arrived on 7 August 1574, nothing at all had been organized for their accommodation. Once again, it was probably Renward Cysat who entrusted the two fathers Martin Leubenstein and Vitus Liner and the brother Bartholomäus Brüllisauer to his mother and Schlüssel-keeper at short notice. She went to great lengths to provide the Jesuits with the bare necessities at first; the poor furnishings and precarious service conditions in the hostel were somewhat improved with the help of the Franciscan guardian, Fr. Rochus Nachbur, and some private individuals. Things became cramped in the Schlüssel when the fathers opened the school after just ten days, on August 17, which quickly enjoyed a lively influx and by the end of the first school year in the summer of 1575 had around 80 pupils. In a report to the General of the Order from the summer of 1575, it says: "We live in a very small house, in which we have around 82 boys; the place cannot hold any more". As the provisional accommodation of the Jesuits continued and the number of pupils grew, Mrs. Margareta was overwhelmed; she therefore entrusted the catering for the guests to the Franciscan kitchen opposite and later to Captain Hans Pfyffer. In the meantime, the Lucerne council had been arguing about the shortcomings of the arrival of the "fathers" and the inadequate conditions in the Schlüssel, but had not yet found a solution. It was not until 1577, when the order of the General of the Order to withdraw the Jesuits from Lucerne was imminent, that Lux Ritter gave the Fathers his palace - today's government building - as a college. It took almost a year and a half before they were able to leave the Schlüssel around Christmas 1577. However, classes were still held in the Schlüssel inn until the beginning of November 1579, mainly in the hall on the second floor. It is therefore understandable that the Jesuit letters from that time do not say much good about the Lucerne residents. The blame was not placed on the landlady of the Schlüssel, on the contrary: the "hospita clavium" was included in the "Catalogus der Stifter und Wohltäter". The guilty party was the lazy and inactive Lucerne Council. Partly due to a lack of money, partly due to stinginess, it also arranged for the annual bills for the Jesuits' accommodation, averaging 760 guilders, to be paid largely from donations and not from the city coffers. However, the council was always prepared to accept honors and tributes from the Jesuits.
And a third high-ranking visitor descended on the Schlüssel: on Friday, September 26, 1586, the papal envoy, Nuncio Giovanni Battista Santonio, and his companions arrived in Lucerne to take part in the celebrations to mark the conclusion of the "Golden League". In this special alliance, the seven Catholic places agreed to prevent any apostasy from the Catholic faith, to provide mutual aid in the event of attacks for the sake of religion and to place religion above politics in matters of alliance. As the Lucerne Council had once again failed to arrange accommodation for the distinguished guest in good time, the nuncio moved into a room at the Schlüssel inn for a few days, after which he was allocated an apartment. During this time, the Schlüssel was bustling with clerical and secular gentlemen coming and going to pay their respects to the envoy.
17th and 18th century
There were frequent changes of ownership at the Schlüssel; hardly any landlords stayed for more than half a dozen years. The owners were mostly craftsmen, sometimes pâtissiers and pastry bakers, other times millers or wine merchants; a number of them also sat on the town council until around 1660. The reasons for the many changes of ownership are not always clear; inheritances often led to the sale, as did the death of the owner or the landlord's indebtedness. From time to time there seem to have been buyers who sensed a deal and wanted to get rid of the property quickly after the purchase - whether at a profit or a loss.
Around 1638, Junker Johann Berengar Heinserlin ran the Schlüssel, who in the same year first became the widower of Maria Verena Feer and then the husband of Verena Schufelbühl from Bremgarten. He probably soon sold the tavern again, but was unable to get rid of his debts and was even imprisoned in 1650. The rest of his life was tragic: in 1653 he was accused of longstanding incest with his daughters from his first marriage. He fled, but was captured in the county of Baden in 1654 and taken to Lucerne, where he was imprisoned until the end of his life around 1660. He only escaped the death penalty because his ancestors had rendered great services to the city.
Between 1640 and 1688, there are again a number of owners or, in some cases, tenants, such as the brothers Peter and Eckhard Lindacher, who were also bakers. Interestingly, the changes of ownership often went through intermediaries, especially when it came to the distribution of inheritances. In 1658, a Bysäss was involved for the first time, Jakob Suter; subsequently, we come across this type of resident several more times, who, as foreigners, did not have full citizenship of their place of residence.
In 1688, there were finally signs of stability again, as the widow Elisabeth Suter, née Huwilerin, and her daughter Madlen (Magdalena), who was also widowed, transferred the Schlüssel to Hans Casper Wismer. As Wismer was unable to pay interest and amortize the debt of 1,400 guilders, his creditor Niklaus Bircher took over the inn in December 1689. A Bircher had already been landlord once before, around 1620, namely Junker Cornel. After briefly attending the Jesuit school, Cornel had learned the butcher's trade and also became Schlüssel landlord around 1620, but then entered French service shortly afterwards. Niklaus Bircher ran the inn until his death in 1742, after which his widow Anna Maria Gürber, assisted by the constable Niklaus Maugwiler, transferred the inn to her son Jost Niklaus. At this time, the Birchers owned a garden near the Rothen Turm towards the Geissmatt, between the Reuss and the road to the Geissmatt, i.e. near the Nölliturm.
On February 22, 1755, Jost Niklaus sold the inn to Johann Jost Buocher, who sold it to Johann von Moos in mid-December of the same year. The von Moos family remained owners of the inn until 1804; first Johann, then Jost from 1779 and later his son Josef. During the Helvetic period, Josef von Moos took on a tenant, Jost Niklaus Barth, and then sold him the inn in 1804. There are no records or memories of the experiences of Jost and Josef von Moos during the Helvetic period, when Lucerne was swarming with French occupying soldiers and officers. However, as a rather noisy restaurant was set up in the nearby Franciscan monastery at this time on the orders of the French, we can assume that the Schlüssel was also frequented by soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
19th and 20th century
For the next 36 years, the property remained in the possession of the Barth family, who came from Willisau. After the death of the buyer Joost Niklaus, the house and farm passed to his sons, first to Sebastian, then in 1834 to his brother Anton through a voluntary and public increase. In 1804 his father had 61000 Gld. (equivalent to Fr. 81,000) in 1804, Anton now paid 13,150 Gld. (equivalent to Fr. 17,533.33). Five years later, the property was divided between the four brothers Anton, Josef, Johann and Jost, who were still alive, in an inheritance and division agreement. Josef and Anton were awarded the farm; four days later, on July 3, 1839, Anton took the Schlüssel in its entirety by way of an increase. However, he sold it 21 months later to the butcher Franz Portmann for a profit of around 1000 francs. The bill of sale noted that the owner had to pay the city of Lucerne an annual "citizen's fund" of 10 shillings (equivalent to 47 centimes); this land rent was not paid off until August 8, 1860.
On November 11, 1846, Franz Portmann sold the inn to Joseph Huber von Flüeli for Fr. 21,3333 or 16,600 guilders and moved to Gisikon, where he took over a butcher's shop and an inn. At the end of 1853, however, Joseph Huber had to file for bankruptcy, so the property went under the hammer and was provisionally sold to town councillor Jost Melchior Degen for CHF 28,484. However, because the previous landlord of the Schützenhaus, Josef Hess, offered around 500 francs more, he became the owner. After his death in January 1864, the court ruled on April 21, 1864 that Mrs. Magdalena Hess-Greter could continue to run the inn and that her daughter, Mrs. Josepha Studhalter-Hess in Horw, should receive a lifelong pension of 520 - 670 francs a year. The widow Hess remarried to Ludwig Zumbühl and then sold the Schlüssel to Xaver Küttel from Vitznau in 1872 for the sum of CHF 70,000.
In the fall of 1864, Mrs. Magdalena Hess had a guest for a while who she certainly did not expect to be a future poet and honorary citizen of the city of Lucerne. It was the 19-year-old Carl Spitteler, who had run away from his parents' house in Liestal a few weeks earlier because of a quarrel with his father and an unhappy love affair. In his mental and identity crisis, the young man traveled around eastern Switzerland and finally arrived in Lucerne starving, ill and with sore feet. Here, through his friend Josef Viktor Widmann, he knew the address of Georg Vogel, who lived on Bruchstrasse behind the Schützenhaus and had started an apprenticeship as a photographer. Vogel welcomed him with open arms, fed him and gave him his first accommodation. However, because Vogel was living in poor financial circumstances, he put Carl Spitteler up in the Schlüssel. To avoid being found here and taken home, the runaway registered himself on the hostel list under the name "Carl Freivogel". He lived at Barfüsserplatz for a few weeks until Vogel was able to place him first with the family of the head clerk Hartmann and then in the house of the civil registrar Rüegger. Spitteler also recovered mentally at Rüegger's and then returned home to his parents. He remained on friendly terms with Vogel and the Rüegger family throughout his life.
Until 1903, the Schlüssel changed hands every few years; several buyers, such as merchants or private individuals, only wanted to make a profit; others believed in the big business but went bankrupt after a short time. For example, Jakob Zinggeler's wife, who, together with her son, initially turned down the inheritance after the death of her husband, but then wanted to continue running the inn. The town council initially rejected her request, but then gave in to the widow's appeal to the judicial commission in the interests of the creditors. However, the widow Zinggeler soon went bankrupt; the forced sale left her with almost 11,000 francs in losses and debts.
In 1899, the Hodel-Boog couple bought the Schlüssel; they paid the CHF 130,000 by selling a house they had bought two years earlier on Zürichstrasse, among other things. While Mrs. Rosalie Boog was now the landlady of the Schlüssel, her husband earned money as a train driver. The couple earned additional income by renting out an apartment on the floors above the restaurant. In 1903, Anton Notz, who had previously run the inn in Willisau, bought the Schlüssel for CHF 136,100. The Notz family remained at the Schlüssel until around 1940, first Anton and then his son Anton around 1928.
In the 1930s, Theodor Wirz also lived in one of the apartments above the Schlüssel and was a fairly regular guest at the inn. Theodor Wirz von Rudenz, son of Adalbert Wirz, member of the Council of States and Landammann, had first studied law at the Sarnen College, then at universities in Switzerland and abroad, and was then able to work as a freelance writer. He now wrote stories and stage plays, including festival and open-air plays, which were mainly dedicated to local themes. For many years he was president of the "Society for Swiss Theater Culture", of which he was one of the founders. In the 1930s, he moved away from Sarnen to Lucerne and settled in the Schlüssel; he called this stay "the asylum" and wrote his last work "Der Turi", in which he portrayed the fate of a patrician bachelor from Lucerne. Theodor Wirz died here in Lucerne at the end of October 1939.
Franz Brugger came to Notz around 1940 and turned the Schlüssel into more of a hotel and restaurant. When the Brugger family opened the Café Brugger next to the Jesuit Church during the Second World War, the Schlüssel guests saw different landlords every few years for the next eighteen years; from 1954 to 1960, Miss Margrit Staub ran the "Magdalena" restaurant at the same time. In the 1960s, Dr. Max Frei was the owner, supported by Mrs. Marie Mathilde Gressner, who had a half share in the business from 1967 to 1973. She was the sole owner until 1984.
Zofingia
Altzofingia has been co-owner of the Schlüssel since May 1984. This is how it came about: In his will, Dr. Fritz Roelli-Bühler in Meggen bequeathed the residential building at Zihlmatte 23 in Lucerne to Altzofingia with the proviso that the net profit from the property be used to pay scholarships to needy members of Zofingia by means of a foundation and, if possible, to run a student residence in the center of the city of Lucerne. The foundation set up after Dr. Roelli's death in September 1973 under the direction of Dr. Alexander Wili subsequently looked around for a suitable location. The minutes of the foundation board mention a house on Gibraltarstrasse, the Hotel Bären, the Weisses Schloss restaurant and the acquisition of the "Sümpfli" in the Wilden Mann. Because the "Sümpfli" was partly converted after the death of 94-year-old Mrs. Emilie Estermann, a change of location became necessary in the summer of 1983. At the end of September 1983, the Board of Trustees began negotiations with Mrs. Gressner, landlady of the Schlüssel. An agreement was quickly reached: the first step was to free Mrs. Gressner from the pressure of some of her creditors by means of a simple partnership founded in Altzofingen. On March 30, 1984, she then sold the Dr. Roelli Foundation one-fifth co-ownership with special use of the 5th floor and the two attic floors for CHF 56,000. On the same day, she also granted the right to purchase the entire 4th floor and part of the 3rd floor to a "Genossenschaft zum Schlüssel", which was established on May 10, 1984. The Schlüssel was divided among the following 3 co-owners:
A: 3/5 owned by Mrs. Gressner with special use from the basement to part of the 3rd floor.
B: 1/5 still owned by Mrs. Gressner with purchase right of the cooperative, special use: of the other part of the 3rd and 4th upper floors
C: 1/5 property of the Dr. Rölli Foundation, special use of the 5th floor and the 2 attic floors
The cooperative was necessary because the statutes of the Dr. Rölli Foundation prohibited the acquisition of co-ownership other than for student housing purposes. Its president, Hans-Rudolf Sigrist, raised the necessary money by subscribing to share certificates from the Zofingen residents. Conversions and renovations now had to be carried out, including the installation of an elevator. On June 13, 1986, Hans-Rudolf Sigrist was able to reopen the Gasthaus Schlüssel.
