Villa Belvoir

Villa Belvoir (Belvoirpark)
Villa Belvoir as seen from upper park area
General information
Type	mansion and park
Architectural style	Neoclassical architecture
Location	Enge (Zürich), Switzerland
Address	Seestrasse 125, CH-8002 Zürich
Coordinates	47°21′26.01″N 8°32′1.1″E / 47.3572250°N 8.533639°E / 47.3572250; 8.533639
Construction started	1828
Completed	1831
Technical details
Floor count	3
Design and construction
Architect	Heinrich Escher

The Villa Belvoir respectively the Bellevoirpark is a Cultural Heritage in Zürich-Enge that comprises the mansion built between 1828 and 1831, and one of the largest public parks and arboreta in the city of Zürich in Switzerland.

Lydia Escher's (1858–1891) grandfather Heinrich Escher (1776–1853) had built the country house Belvoir, situated on the left shore of Zürichsee in the then village of Enge, as of today being a district of the city of Zürich. The area houses the Hotelfachschule Belvoirpark and is one of the largest public parks in Zürich. Public transport is provided by the Zürich Tram route 7 and by the bus lines 161 and 165.

Heinrich Escher bought in 1826 the so-called «Wyssbühel», a vine-covered hill on Zürichsee lakeshore. According to his own plans, the top of the hill was removed and the material used for populations on the swampy banks. The area was planted with exotic trees, which partly came from Northern America. The High Neoclassical mansion in the centre of the complex was built between 1828 and 1831. Heinrich Escher, Lydia Zolliker and their children Clementina and Alfred Escher (1819–1882) were the first inhibitants, establishing the Escher's family tradition to Alred's daughter Lydia Escher to 1890. In addition to his scientific collections and studies, Heinrich Escher dedicated himself especially the design and maintenance of his estate, which he called Belvoir (beautiful view in French).

On occasion of the construction of the so-called linksufrige Seeuferbahn (literally: left lakeside railway) in 1872, the spacious estate lost the direct access to the lake. Alfred Escher died in 1882, and he inherited the estate to his daughter Lydia; after her suicide in 1891, the estate was the base to establish the Gottfried Keller Foundation and was bequeathed to the Swiss Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft). The Federal Council acted as the administrator of the foundation, and planned to sell the estate, to meet Lydia Escher's conditions attached to the gift. When this became known, prominent Zürich citizens formed a committee to save the park for the public use. As the city government was unable to raise the money to buy the estarte, the city's population bought shares for the rescue of the park, and within some days the required capital was provided. To finance the maintenance, the Belvoirpark-society (Belvoirpark-Gesellschaft) sold along the Seestrasse road some building plots. In 1901 the city of Zürich was able to take over the property, and thanked its citizens to have prevent the appalling loss of unsheathed. The villa was rebuilt in 1925 to host the then Hotel- und Wirtefachschule mit Restaurantbetrieb Belvoir. As of today, the villa also is used by the Wollishofen guild, but it primarily houses the restaurant Belvoir Park which is operated by the students of the hotel management school Belvoirpark Hotelfachschule.