Casino

The Casino is a specific type of urban building and location that became popular in Switzerland in the early 19th century. Casinos served as urban venues for social and cultural life, typically containing a lounge, a big hall for musical, theatrical or dancing events, several smaller rooms as well as various restaurants. In many Swiss cities and towns, the Casino was a popular venue for amateur theatre performances.

Locations with similar functions are party halls in village inns, municipal theatres, concert halls, congress halls, community centres, et cetera.

Differentiation of terms

The Casino in Switzerland is not to be confused with casino in the sense of a mere gambling hall, an officers' casino, or a brothel.

History

After 1800, we see increasing foundations of bourgeois associations - be they political, ecomonical, social, academic, literary, musical, or theatrical. Looking for places where to host their events, the associations initiated the building of casinos.

Architecture and Examples

In the first half of the 19th century, Casinos were mainly built as smaller classical buildings with a cubistic body, a portico, and a pediment, like the Casinos in Zürich (1806), Bern (1821), Basel (Sommercasino 1824, Stadtcasino 1826), Lausanne (1824), Aarau (1831), La Chaux-de-Fonds (1835), Herisau (1837), Baden (1843), and Bellinzona (1850).

In the second half of the 19th century there is also the bigger construction type with risalits, domes and massive orders of columns. Examples are the Casinos in Bern (1866), Baden (1872), Luzern (1882), Genf (1884), Lugano (1896), and Interlaken (1898).

After 1900 you can find Jugendstil Casinos like the buildings in Zürich (Corso 1899), Locarno (1902), Bern (1906), Lausanne (1908), Vevey (1908), and Zug (1911).

Source

Bruno Carl: "Casino", in: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 15.02.2005. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/011003/2005-02-15/ (Accessed 2024-05-03).