Kt. Solothurn Hauenstein Auto-Rasthaus Nord-Sud Motel and Service Station, Hauenstein, Switzerland, 1956
The motel appears to be operating at the time this slide was taken (mid-1956), but is clearly still being constructed. The motel and service station were situated at about 53 Hauptstrasse Hauenstein-Ifenthal, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. The motel buildings remain, but are in a state of fenced-off dereliction, and as at 2017 were slated for demolition. The service station is gone leaving only some concrete that shows where it was placed.
The hill from which this photo was taken was dug out and levelled in the early 1960s for a golf course.
As explained by the article below, The hotel eventually became a sex club.
The following is a story from the Solothurner Zeitung dated 5.1.2017 (the translation is by Google, hence the odd syntax).
"Changing "Bolero" story: Motel - Dancing - Night Club
The Motel Hauenstein would be 61 years old these days: "The opening was on January 26, 1956," remembers Rosa Rubitschung-Bitterli (82, Mümliswil), who grew up in the Hauensteiner "Löwen", on request without the slightest hesitation.
Why did you remember this date so much? "That was an incision for us because the motel was a competition for the 'lion'," she explains. The new motel was only a few hundred meters farther up the pass road than the "Lion", which had been run by Rosa Bitterli's father as a sideline farm and business.
Also to the reason why a modern motel was planned and built especially on the Hauenstein: "At that time it was intended that the highway should lead over the Hauenstein." Actually, the Motel Hauenstein was an excursion restaurant, service area and hotel operation initially a success. "On Sunday there was often a whole migration of peoples, when the Trimbacher came on foot on the stone and Hauenstein in the motel," recalls Rosa Rubitschung."
The main road Basel-Lucerne was part of the connection between Germany and Italy over the Gotthard. At the motel car park often held cars from Germany or other countries. Also overnight accommodations were in demand.
As you know, the A 2 was then not built by the Homburgertal and the Lower Hauenstein, but by the Diegtertal, with a cut between Eptingen and Hägendorf. With the opening of the Belchentunnel in December 1970, the pass traffic broke over the Hauenstein, in the motel on the pass began the decline.
Although new buildings were created in 1971 and 1974, the motel now lured with a Dancing. Apparently without any resounding success, because the owners changed, the restaurant was closed repeatedly. Several operators were involved in bankruptcy proceedings. So did the entertainment entrepreneur Peter Curti, who ran the night club "Bolero" at the motel, where prostitutes offered their services.
The sex club on the Hauenstein made headlines several times. Thus, in November 2001 at 6 o'clock in the morning a 40-year-old employee was found naked and frozen on the sidewalk in front of the Bolero at minus 3 degrees. Since September 7, 2012, the "Bolero" is finally closed. (CVA)"
And this from a German language arts magazine of the time (translated by Google):
"Rasthaus north-south: a look behind the scenes of the motel on the Hauenstein
Author (s): Object type:
Magazine:
[s.n.] Article
Olten New Years Papers
Volume (Year): 16 (1958)
PDF created on: 13.12.2021
Persistent link: doi.org/10.5169/seals-659582
Terms of Use
The ETH Library is the provider of the digitized journals. She has no copyrights to the content of the magazines. The publisher usually owns the rights.
The documents published on the e-periodica platform are freely available for non-commercial purposes in teaching and research as well as for private use. Individual files or printouts from this offer can be passed on together with these terms of use and the correct designations of origin.
The publication of images in print and online publications is only permitted with the prior consent of the rights holder. The systematic storage of parts of the electronic offer on other servers also requires the written consent of the rights holder.
Disclaimer of liability
All information is provided without guarantee for completeness or correctness. No liability is accepted for damage caused by the use of information from this online offer or by the lack of information. This also applies to third party content that is accessible via this offer.
A service from the ETH Library
ETH Zurich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland, www.library.ethz.ch
Rest house north-south
A look behind the scenes of the motel on the Hauenstein
This article should actually have belonged in the "Oltner Neujahrsblätter" 1957, which were dedicated to the subject of Hauenstein. Unfortunately, the documents were not available in time at the time, so we have to make up for the omission this year.
On one of those warm autumn evenings, which this year compensate us for the wet summer, we drive up to the Hauenstein when it gets dark. From the exit of the village you can already see the new rest house, which with its modern and timeless lines hugs the slope at the top of the pass, as if it had grown there. The spacious parking lot is almost empty on a working day at this time. Soon we will be sitting at the nicely laid table and enjoying the samples from the kitchen and cellar. Afterwards, the owner and landlord, Mr. Löliger, will join us. He willingly gives us information. We want to know how he came up with the idea of building a motel and why he chose the Hauenstein. “You see,” he says, “I was sick some time ago. During convalescence, I often drove up to this spot to refresh myself in the air and sun. I saw the many tourists who stopped up here and enjoyed the view. So the plan matured in me to build a rest house right here. I tried to tailor the American idea of the motel to European conditions and I believe that I have largely succeeded. "
Well, success has proven him right. With increasing astonishment we follow him through the building, where every detail is only intended to serve the whole. The thought work that was done here before the excavation for the foundation walls began is enormous. We hear that the architect only designed the outer walls, while the entire interior work, down to the smallest detail, is a joint effort by the Löliger family.
We're in the kitchen. Machine after machine, the most modern in every field. Automatic washing-up machine, ultra-modern oven, in which, in addition to the patisserie, all the bread required for the operation is baked. I was particularly taken with one machine. It contains liquid cream in a kettle, which is pressed through a tap under pressure, where it is inexplicably atomized and then flows down as a finished, stiff whipped cream. There is no question of hitting or swinging. It is the purest magic for the layman.
The self-service buffet separates the kitchen from the dining room. Mr. Löliger explains to us that this principle of self-service is the core of the whole organization. It enables him to serve up to four thousand guests a day with a small staff of staff at peak times. He has also set his own limits when it comes to menu selection. He doesn't want to run a specialty restaurant, but rather to offer passers-by and tourists a limited selection of well-prepared dishes that meet the average of his guests and still allow efficient kitchen work.
From the kitchen the path leads past the bright, colorful entrance hall into the lower room wing. If we had to choose a motto for this, it would be: "Clean - friendly - simple." The rooms, mostly equipped with 2 or 4 bunk beds and without exception with cold and warm water, some with a shower, are friendly and pretty despite their somewhat bare practicality. Everything you need to stay overnight is available, from the clothes hook to the connection for the electric razor, but no value is placed on additional comfort. They are bedrooms, functionally built in a logical manner. The traveler, who is used to the plush grandeur of the big hotels from the turn of the century, will first have to gulp three times before he realizes that one can sleep without them. Instead he will find to his astonishment that there is a very effective air conditioning system in each of these small rooms, which he would otherwise look for in most plush hotels.
A short flight of stairs leads up to the first floor. Right on the upper landing there is a small room for travelling business people. A few simple desks with typewriters enable the representative to deal with his correspondence in the evening. The adjoining upper room wing largely corresponds to the part below. A total of 24 rooms with a total of 72 beds are available to guests, which, according to the owner, were very well occupied throughout the summer and well into September.
The exterior of the house is no less generous than the interior. From the large terrace, when the weather is nice, the imposing picture that we know from all Jura heights is presented again and again. The two-tier parking lot is intended for 120 cars, but according to the police, 180 cars were parked around at the same time. There is a well-equipped petrol station with a service station facing the street, and next to it there is even an express bar for those who drive in a particularly hurry.
With a black coffee we sit together for half an hour in front of the open fire in the “Grotto”. The atmosphere of comfort that emanates from this room is really captivating. Shape, colors and decoration are matched to one another, and the crackling logs in the fireplace breathe everything with their twitching life. If we were asked for our opinion, only the jukebox would have to be removed, but a compact majority of the other guests probably think differently about that. We ask Mr. Loeliger whether he has had famous people in the house. “Yes, there are often those who come by here whose names have a good reputation in the big world. There are people from politics, film, the military and industry from many countries, but they are all looking for peace and anonymity here. They don't want to be anything but passing tourists. Most of the time they eat in the self-service room and get their own soup from the buffet. Her name is on the registration slip, but I won't let it show that I recognized her. In the morning they leave just as quietly, but many come back."
The motel is a child of our time. It does not want to compete with the long-established hospitality industry, but rather a necessary addition. It's not a vacation spot, it's a stage destination. It is a bit informal, geared towards practicality, and thus it corresponds to the younger generation from which its customers are mainly recruited".
Architect1956
Kt. Solothurn Hauenstein Auto-Rasthaus Nord-Sud Motel and Service Station, Hauenstein, Switzerland, 1956
The motel appears to be operating at the time this slide was taken (mid-1956), but is clearly still being constructed. The motel and service station were situated at about 53 Hauptstrasse Hauenstein-Ifenthal, Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. The motel buildings remain, but are in a state of fenced-off dereliction, and as at 2017 were slated for demolition. The service station is gone leaving only some concrete that shows where it was placed.
The hill from which this photo was taken was dug out and levelled in the early 1960s for a golf course.
As explained by the article below, The hotel eventually became a sex club.
The following is a story from the Solothurner Zeitung dated 5.1.2017 (the translation is by Google, hence the odd syntax).
"Changing "Bolero" story: Motel - Dancing - Night Club
The Motel Hauenstein would be 61 years old these days: "The opening was on January 26, 1956," remembers Rosa Rubitschung-Bitterli (82, Mümliswil), who grew up in the Hauensteiner "Löwen", on request without the slightest hesitation.
Why did you remember this date so much? "That was an incision for us because the motel was a competition for the 'lion'," she explains. The new motel was only a few hundred meters farther up the pass road than the "Lion", which had been run by Rosa Bitterli's father as a sideline farm and business.
Also to the reason why a modern motel was planned and built especially on the Hauenstein: "At that time it was intended that the highway should lead over the Hauenstein." Actually, the Motel Hauenstein was an excursion restaurant, service area and hotel operation initially a success. "On Sunday there was often a whole migration of peoples, when the Trimbacher came on foot on the stone and Hauenstein in the motel," recalls Rosa Rubitschung."
The main road Basel-Lucerne was part of the connection between Germany and Italy over the Gotthard. At the motel car park often held cars from Germany or other countries. Also overnight accommodations were in demand.
As you know, the A 2 was then not built by the Homburgertal and the Lower Hauenstein, but by the Diegtertal, with a cut between Eptingen and Hägendorf. With the opening of the Belchentunnel in December 1970, the pass traffic broke over the Hauenstein, in the motel on the pass began the decline.
Although new buildings were created in 1971 and 1974, the motel now lured with a Dancing. Apparently without any resounding success, because the owners changed, the restaurant was closed repeatedly. Several operators were involved in bankruptcy proceedings. So did the entertainment entrepreneur Peter Curti, who ran the night club "Bolero" at the motel, where prostitutes offered their services.
The sex club on the Hauenstein made headlines several times. Thus, in November 2001 at 6 o'clock in the morning a 40-year-old employee was found naked and frozen on the sidewalk in front of the Bolero at minus 3 degrees. Since September 7, 2012, the "Bolero" is finally closed. (CVA)"
And this from a German language arts magazine of the time (translated by Google):
"Rasthaus north-south: a look behind the scenes of the motel on the Hauenstein
Author (s): Object type:
Magazine:
[s.n.] Article
Olten New Years Papers
Volume (Year): 16 (1958)
PDF created on: 13.12.2021
Persistent link: doi.org/10.5169/seals-659582
Terms of Use
The ETH Library is the provider of the digitized journals. She has no copyrights to the content of the magazines. The publisher usually owns the rights.
The documents published on the e-periodica platform are freely available for non-commercial purposes in teaching and research as well as for private use. Individual files or printouts from this offer can be passed on together with these terms of use and the correct designations of origin.
The publication of images in print and online publications is only permitted with the prior consent of the rights holder. The systematic storage of parts of the electronic offer on other servers also requires the written consent of the rights holder.
Disclaimer of liability
All information is provided without guarantee for completeness or correctness. No liability is accepted for damage caused by the use of information from this online offer or by the lack of information. This also applies to third party content that is accessible via this offer.
A service from the ETH Library
ETH Zurich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland, www.library.ethz.ch
Rest house north-south
A look behind the scenes of the motel on the Hauenstein
This article should actually have belonged in the "Oltner Neujahrsblätter" 1957, which were dedicated to the subject of Hauenstein. Unfortunately, the documents were not available in time at the time, so we have to make up for the omission this year.
On one of those warm autumn evenings, which this year compensate us for the wet summer, we drive up to the Hauenstein when it gets dark. From the exit of the village you can already see the new rest house, which with its modern and timeless lines hugs the slope at the top of the pass, as if it had grown there. The spacious parking lot is almost empty on a working day at this time. Soon we will be sitting at the nicely laid table and enjoying the samples from the kitchen and cellar. Afterwards, the owner and landlord, Mr. Löliger, will join us. He willingly gives us information. We want to know how he came up with the idea of building a motel and why he chose the Hauenstein. “You see,” he says, “I was sick some time ago. During convalescence, I often drove up to this spot to refresh myself in the air and sun. I saw the many tourists who stopped up here and enjoyed the view. So the plan matured in me to build a rest house right here. I tried to tailor the American idea of the motel to European conditions and I believe that I have largely succeeded. "
Well, success has proven him right. With increasing astonishment we follow him through the building, where every detail is only intended to serve the whole. The thought work that was done here before the excavation for the foundation walls began is enormous. We hear that the architect only designed the outer walls, while the entire interior work, down to the smallest detail, is a joint effort by the Löliger family.
We're in the kitchen. Machine after machine, the most modern in every field. Automatic washing-up machine, ultra-modern oven, in which, in addition to the patisserie, all the bread required for the operation is baked. I was particularly taken with one machine. It contains liquid cream in a kettle, which is pressed through a tap under pressure, where it is inexplicably atomized and then flows down as a finished, stiff whipped cream. There is no question of hitting or swinging. It is the purest magic for the layman.
The self-service buffet separates the kitchen from the dining room. Mr. Löliger explains to us that this principle of self-service is the core of the whole organization. It enables him to serve up to four thousand guests a day with a small staff of staff at peak times. He has also set his own limits when it comes to menu selection. He doesn't want to run a specialty restaurant, but rather to offer passers-by and tourists a limited selection of well-prepared dishes that meet the average of his guests and still allow efficient kitchen work.
From the kitchen the path leads past the bright, colorful entrance hall into the lower room wing. If we had to choose a motto for this, it would be: "Clean - friendly - simple." The rooms, mostly equipped with 2 or 4 bunk beds and without exception with cold and warm water, some with a shower, are friendly and pretty despite their somewhat bare practicality. Everything you need to stay overnight is available, from the clothes hook to the connection for the electric razor, but no value is placed on additional comfort. They are bedrooms, functionally built in a logical manner. The traveler, who is used to the plush grandeur of the big hotels from the turn of the century, will first have to gulp three times before he realizes that one can sleep without them. Instead he will find to his astonishment that there is a very effective air conditioning system in each of these small rooms, which he would otherwise look for in most plush hotels.
A short flight of stairs leads up to the first floor. Right on the upper landing there is a small room for travelling business people. A few simple desks with typewriters enable the representative to deal with his correspondence in the evening. The adjoining upper room wing largely corresponds to the part below. A total of 24 rooms with a total of 72 beds are available to guests, which, according to the owner, were very well occupied throughout the summer and well into September.
The exterior of the house is no less generous than the interior. From the large terrace, when the weather is nice, the imposing picture that we know from all Jura heights is presented again and again. The two-tier parking lot is intended for 120 cars, but according to the police, 180 cars were parked around at the same time. There is a well-equipped petrol station with a service station facing the street, and next to it there is even an express bar for those who drive in a particularly hurry.
With a black coffee we sit together for half an hour in front of the open fire in the “Grotto”. The atmosphere of comfort that emanates from this room is really captivating. Shape, colors and decoration are matched to one another, and the crackling logs in the fireplace breathe everything with their twitching life. If we were asked for our opinion, only the jukebox would have to be removed, but a compact majority of the other guests probably think differently about that. We ask Mr. Loeliger whether he has had famous people in the house. “Yes, there are often those who come by here whose names have a good reputation in the big world. There are people from politics, film, the military and industry from many countries, but they are all looking for peace and anonymity here. They don't want to be anything but passing tourists. Most of the time they eat in the self-service room and get their own soup from the buffet. Her name is on the registration slip, but I won't let it show that I recognized her. In the morning they leave just as quietly, but many come back."
The motel is a child of our time. It does not want to compete with the long-established hospitality industry, but rather a necessary addition. It's not a vacation spot, it's a stage destination. It is a bit informal, geared towards practicality, and thus it corresponds to the younger generation from which its customers are mainly recruited".
Architect1956