Lohn Estate

The first Lohn estate was built for the Landvogt Samuel Bondeli in the 17th century. It passed through several owners before ending up with the Bernese patrician Tscharner family. At the time it was a modest summer home with a garden. In 1740 it was inherited by Samuel's son Abraham Tscharner. Abraham had been a mercenary officer in Holland. His first wife, who he met in Holland, died in childbirth three years after their wedding.[2][3]

His second wife bore him two daughters, of which the younger, Henriette Marie Charlotte, inherited Lohn Estate. She married the wealthy Beat Emanuel Tscharner in 1775. A few years later, he decided to replace the modest country house with a more impressive building.[2][3][4]

Beat Emanuel Tscharner hired Carl Ahasver von Sinner to build the house for his family in 1782. The house remained in with the Tscharner family for just over a century. In 1897, Friedrich Emil Welti, the son of the Federal Council member Emil Welti, bought the estate. He purchased it with the indemnities of his divorce from his first wife Lydia Welti-Escher, who was accused of having cheated on him for over ten years with painter Karl Stauffer. In 1942, Friedrich Emil Welti's second wife and widow Helene Welti-Kammerer donated the house and estate to the Swiss Confederation in memory of Emil Welti.[2][3][5]

In accordance with the wishes of the donor, the house was used to accommodate heads of State and governments, as well as royalty during their official visits in Switzerland. Former guests of the estate include Winston Churchill, Pandit Nehru, Konrad Adenauer, Sukarno, Rainier and Grace of Monaco, Heinrich Lübke, Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Great Britain, Karl Carstens, François Mitterrand, Richard von Weizsäcker and Lech Walesa. The house was restored between 1959 and 1960. Since 1994, the official guests of the Swiss Confederation stay at the Hotel Bellevue Palace, in Bern.[2][3]

The house is finely furnished, mostly in Empire style. The rooms are equipped with 18th century faïence cocklestoves from Peter Gnehm and the Frisching Faience Manufactory. Paintings from the Welti collection are exposed, including works by Adriaen Brouwer, Ferdinand Hodler, Cuno Amiet, Albert Anker, Alexandre Calame, Marguerite Frey-Surbek and Rudolf Koller.[2][3][5][6]