Wehntalerstrasse / Birchstrasse

This streetcorner represents the most northern public corner building of Kreis 6. It brings together the Birchstrasse – coming from north – with the Wehntalerstrasse and is situated north of Käferberg, close to Oerlikon.
This elderly looking house seems to be in a good state. It must have been renovated more or less recently. Different material was used. Visible are plaster, stone, relic copper plates, sandstone, and a roof of tiles. The façade was thus colored in relatable colours, with green shutters.
The oriel suggests, that this house was built in medieval ages or around the 16th century. This was then built as a symbol of a wealthy, well accomplished household, thus also the ornamental forms in sandstone as well as several coat of arm seal or imitations of such decorate the oriel at the front. The entrance is placed so it cuts the house’s corner and at the same time is protected, guarded or observed by the above oriel that stands out of that corner.
The corner is contemporarily used as a café seemingly known in the surrounding area, but also holds parking spaces around it for customers. It is situated in what seems to be a changing area, modernizing but not yet systematically recognizable. Faced by a modern looking car shop and yet its next neighbors are family homes built in different epochs. To me, it seems that this house once had a more glorious presence. This was lost by the lack of continuity in the surrounding architecture, that betrays this building with an abundance of concrete and utilitarian infrastructure.