TIME LAPSE - 1900
Zurich groans under the weight of immigration and a housing shortage. But Adelrich Beyer and his fi ve children enjoy their Zürichberg villa.
It’s hard to imagine today: In 1892, Aussersihl, Enge, Fluntern, Hirslanden, Hottingen, Oberstrass, Riesbach, Unterstrass, Wiedikon, Wipkingen and Wollishofen were all still independent villages. They were incorporated on 1 January 1893, making Zurich Switzerland’s first major city. The population jumped from 31,000 to 121,000 overnight. Seven years later, although the economic and infrastructural advantages are clear, Zurich is also experiencing a number of drawbacks. Foreigners who moved to Zurich in search of work make up one-third of the population. Xenophobia is on the rise, there’s a housing shortage, more and more people are falling into poverty, fear of disease runs rampant. Zurich seems to change every day. While entire districts of tenements are being built in Sihlfeld, Affoltern and Wipkingen, magnificent new buildings are emerging around the historic city centre. Meanwhile, the middle class has settled by the lake – and on Zürichberg.
Picture caption
Top right: Children from his first marriage: Theodor Julius will one day take over the Chronometrie.
Bottom left: Adelrich Beyer is one of the first car owners in Switzerland.
This is where Adelrich Beyer (1858– 1915) lived with his wife Anna Beyer- Brügger (1864–1944) and their five children in a house at Krähbühlstrasse 57. He had lost his first wife eight years earlier. Marie Valentine Beyer-Meylan (1858–1892) died in childbirth at just 34 years old. Adelrich met Marie – a fellow watchmaker – during his traineeship at Patek Philippe. She came from a well-known watchmaking family. Her grandfather had made Meylan watches, which were some of the finest of their time. Marie Valentine was a Protestant; nevertheless, Adelrich married her in 1883, and, as a result, the entire Beyer family was excommunicated from the Catholic church and converted to Protestantism. The pair had three children, including Theodor Julius Beyer (1887–1952), who would one day be the sixth generation of the family to lead Beyer Chronometrie.
PEOPLE ARE FALLING INTO POVERTY, FEAR RUNS RAMPANT.
DIFFICULT TIMES AHEAD
Adelrich Beyer has another two children with Anna Beyer-Brügger; it’s a busy time at the villa on Zürichberg. Recently resurfaced photos show that they were also able to afford a car very early on. However, Adelrich is seldom at home: There is much to do at the Chronometrie in the Palais de Crédit Suisse on Paradeplatz, social life places additional demands on him, and he worries about the growing tension in Zurich. War seems inevitable. Adelrich knows that this would also impact his business and his family. In 1915, Adelrich Beyer dies at the age of 57, one year after the outbreak of WWI. Beyer Chronometrie survives the war relatively unscathed but is hit hard by the post-war recession. As a result, in 1934, the family is forced to sell its villa on Krähbühlstrasse and move into a modest flat in Zurich’s District 3.
Change is in the air:
Anna and Adelrich Beyer with their children
and their spouses circa 1910.
Anna and Adelrich Beyer with their children
and their spouses circa 1910.
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