**Lydia Leinbacher and Gustav Gull, photographed around 1881.** gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

Sketches of love

Gustav Gull made a double portrait of himself and his wife Lydia for the façade of the National Museum in Zurich. The reliefs were not the only architectural declarations of love made by the star Zurich architect to his wife.

Cristina Gutbrod

Cristina Gutbrod is a freelance architectural historian and cultural mediator at the National Museum Zurich.

The opening of the National Museum in the summer of 1898 was a significant milestone in the career of Gustav Gull: not only was he the architect who designed the Swiss National Museum, he was also Zurich’s municipal architect. His marriage to Lydia Anna Leinbacher (1856–1944) in 1885 produced five children: Lilly, Karl, Gertrud, Erna and Erhard – the two eldest children attended the ceremony to mark the opening of the National Museum on 25 June 1898. Gull and his wife enjoyed the aspirational ideal of bourgeois family life, in which the married couple complement each other and achieve fulfilment in a union based on love with various provisions. The allocation of roles for this family concept had become firmly established in the 19th century: the woman belonged in the home as an emotional being, while the man was more suited to public life due to his rationality.

**The Gulls’ two children Lilly and Karl were “guests of honour” at the parade to mark the opening of the National Museum in June 1898.** Baugeschichtliches Archiv Zurich

Gustav Gull saw the ideal family life in the marriage of his parents Anna and Gottlieb Gull. This image of happiness was deepened by the untimely death of Gull’s mother when he was 17. His parents’ union impressed upon him an ideal in childhood that stayed with him throughout his life as something to aspire to. He acted on it shortly after completing his architectural studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich: Gull fell madly in love with Rosa Stadler who was three years younger than him and the second daughter of his teacher and mentor Julius Stadler. His feelings were not reciprocated on that occasion, but he was more successful shortly afterwards in Baden, where he worked in the practice of architect Robert Moser, the father of his friend from university Karl Moser. Looking back on the few months he spent there, Gull referred to them as his “blissful spell in Baden”. In early 1881, he met Lydia Leinbacher when at work and was smitten. Romance between the young architect and goldsmith’s daughter blossomed quickly.

Gustav Gull immortalised his love for Lydia Leinbacher in the West Wing of the National Museum in Zurich in the form of two portrait medallions. The museum façade was designed by Joseph Regl. gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull / gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

Inspired by love

Shortly after meeting Lydia, Gustav Gull moved to Lausanne for a traineeship at the architectural practice of Benjamin Recordon, putting their relationship to the test early on. Following his arrival in Lausanne, Gustav Gull wrote Lydia Leinbacher a letter declaring his love for her: “Yes, I love you with every fibre of my being.” She, however, had some doubts. By the time Gull was to qualify as an architect, she would already have exceeded the age for marriage as she was two years older than him. “I am 24, you are 22, as you told me yourself, you still have 4–5 years of work ahead of you before you can think about going into practice. I’ll be well on the way to spinsterhood by then whereas you, well you can judge for yourself!!” Lydia Leinbacher did not want to waste her time on pipe dreams. However, Gustav Gull was not to be dissuaded. He passionately, confidently and even argumentatively dispelled all doubts: “Your heart is surely as young as mine; what has happiness got to do with age. […] I want to do my very best to be an artist in the true sense of the word; […]. The end of my career will show that I aimed for the stars. It will also show how proud I was to be loved by you, my Lydia!” Finally, the object of his affections surrendered her heart to the young architect. She would – as she replied to him – pray daily that Gull’s love for her would endure and that he would achieve “the ultimate goal” of his endeavours – “the noble quest for perfection!”

**Gustav Gull immortalised “his” Lydia in a sketch book, which he had kept in the early 1880s in Baden as an allegory.** gta Archiv / ETH Zurich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

Gustav Gull wanted to fulfil his “sacred ideal of family life” with Lydia Leinbacher as his wife as she ticked all the boxes for him. The young architect considered success in his career as integral to his “hopes for the future”. Gottlieb Gull had instilled in his son Gustav the importance of being able to offer a secure livelihood to his future wife, which fuelled his ambition and motivation. Gull felt strengthened by Lydia’s love in his “quest for independence”, seeing it as the “immortal genius” of his art and motivation for his career.

The young lady encouraged the architect to pursue his career, while she took a back seat: she did not want to hinder Gull’s professional advancement; instead she would wait patiently for the wedding, as she wrote in a letter. Gustav Gull meanwhile included Lydia Leinbacher in his vision of life as an architect: “One of my favourite thoughts has long been that you could join me and come with me to work to see what I do and help with my projects. Then it wouldn’t feel like it was just anyone who was with me. It would be you, the one who brings out the best in me.”

**Lydia and Gustav Gull with their children Gertrud, Erhard, Karl, Erna and Lilly (from left to right). The photograph dates from 1897.** gta Archiv / ETH Zurich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

The long-distance relationship captured in hundreds of letters

The couple lived apart for most of the time until their marriage. In 1881–1882, Leinbacher worked in the household of the family of Francis Charles Hingeston-Randolph in the village of Ringmore, England. Gull then spent 1883–1884 in Italy to complete his architecture training. Little by little, the lovers went public with their relationship: they secretly got engaged on 27 June 1882 in Baden and Gustav Gull’s father gave the couple his blessing in July. Between 1881 and 1885, Gustav Gull and Lydia Leinbacher exchanged several hundred usually long, diary-like letters through which they grew closer, declared their love for each other, swapped experiences, talked about people they had met, discussed plans for their life together and in which Gull told his future wife how he saw himself and how he envisaged his career and art as a young architect. The documents are stored in the architect’s estate in the gta Archiv at ETH Zurich.

Gustav et Lydia ont déclaré leur amour dans d'innombrables lettres.

Gustav and Lydia expressed their love in countless letters. gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull / gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

His university friend Conrad von Muralt facilitated his transition to professional independence, which was a prerequisite for Gull’s being able to marry, by suggesting to him that they open an architectural practice together. On 12 March 1885, Gustav and Lydia Gull celebrated their wedding at Hotel de la Balance in Baden. They moved into a flat in a newly completed residential building on Mühlebachstrasse 88 in the former Zurich suburb of Riesbach. It had been built by Gottlieb Gull using designs by his son Gustav. However, the couple quickly moved on to Lucerne in 1886 where Gull worked on the federal post office building having won a competition and following the dissolution of Muralt & Gull. In 1888, the Gull family moved back to Zurich with their first two children Lilly and Karl. One year later Gustav Gull experienced a professional crisis due to a lack of commissions. That came to an end in 1890 with the National Museum project.

**The first marital home of Gustav and Lydia Gull was in Zurich-Riesbach. Gustav’s father Gottlieb had built the house based on his son’s designs.** gta Archiv / ETH Zurich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

In 1898, Gustav Gull and Lydia Leinbacher celebrated the success of their shared life plan with the opening of the Swiss National Museum. As a young architect, Gustav Gull had wanted his joy in love to radiate from all his creations. The gate tower at the National Museum was a declaration of love for Lydia Leinbacher expressed through construction: during his time in Baden, Gustav Gull had made sketches in 1881 of the city tower built in the 15th century (Bruggerturm). He created an even more tangible declaration of love in the two portrait medallions of Lydia and him in the West Wing of the National Museum: a contemporary couple in 16th century attire to match the architecture of the National Museum spanning the late Gothic and Renaissance movements.

**Baden city tower, pictured here in 1890, bears many similarities to...** Wikipedia / Swiss National Library

**... the National Museum tower in Zurich.** Baugeschichtliches Archiv Zurich

The family home

Gustav Gull always saw the shared “home” as a symbol of a happy family life. It would be organised by the wife and serve as a retreat from the working world for the husband: “[Our home one day]”, he wrote to Lydia in 1881, “must be our very own shared creation! There can be nothing more special than a cosy home where the man can relax with his beloved wife at their own hearth and renew his strength for the next day’s labour and toil.” In 1901-1902, Gustav and Lydia Gull fulfilled their dream of their own home when ‘Rosenegg’ was built at Moussonstrasse 17 in Zurich-Fluntern. It was a semi-detached building designed and constructed by Gull when working with his father. It also coincided with a step up the career ladder as Gustav Gull left his position as municipal architect in 1900 to take up a professorship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. He also, on a freelance basis, continued work he had started while municipal architect on a big urban construction project in the Werdmühle and Oetenbach area.

The architectural styles of ‘Rosenegg’ closely resemble the Swiss National Museum – the building with which Gull had launched his career and that served as a landmark for his designs in the municipal architecture department. The uphill part of the Gull family’s house has a broad clipped gable roof facing the turn in the road. Gustav Gull had used the same roof type, a feature of medieval secular buildings, for the northwestern corner of the National Museum, where the portrait medallions of him and his wife are on the same side as the park. The frieze on the beams and ceiling in the ‘Rosenegg’ dining room is reminiscent of late-Gothic flat cuts, and the design of the window alcove in the style of late-Gothic secular buildings is similar to the rooms from Fraumünster abbey transplanted into the National Museum. Gull’s dining room also displayed the ‘Alpaufzug’ (1881) painting by Gull’s friend Rudolf Koller, as well as Lydia Gull’s small worktable, designed by Gustav for his wife in 1901. The ‘Rosenegg’ house reflects Gustav Gull’s understanding of architecture, his social standing and the ideal family life he shared with Lydia Leinbacher. The architecturally distinct ‘Rosenegg’ is not just the centre of family life, it is also the calling card of the National Museum architect. Gustav Gull’s studio was in the attic. As in the portrait medallions at the National Museum, family and working life blend into one in the architecture of their ‘Rosenegg’ home.

Between 1901 and 1902, Gustav Gull built a house ‘Rosenegg’ in Zurich-Fluntern for his family. He had also designed a small worktable for his wife Lydia. It stood in the dining room. Photos: gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull / Photos: gta Archiv / ETH Zürich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

Together Gustav and Lydia Gull experienced some highs and lows, for example when his reputation as an architect began to wane with the advent of the Modern period from the 1910s. They were married for 57 years and stayed together till death did them part: he passed away in 1942, she died in 1944. The Zurich architect’s glittering career would not have been possible without Lydia Gull.

**Lydia and Gustav Gull were married for 57 years. This photograph was probably taken in 1938.** gta Archiv / ETH Zurich, Nachlass Gustav Gull

Architekt, Städtebauer, Visionär

Mit der Publikation von Cristina Gutbrod liegt erstmals eine Monografie zu Gustav Gulls Gesamtwerk vor. Seine Bauten und Entwürfe werden auf Zürichs Stadtgeschichte bezogen und in den architekturhistorischen Zusammenhang eingeordnet. Das reich bebilderte Buch enthält Zeichnungen aus dem Nachlass des Architekten, ergänzt durch historische Pläne und Fotografien. Gulls Hauptwerke, seine herausragende Architektenkarriere und seine visionären städtebaulichen Entwürfe für Zürichs grossstädtische Entwicklung werden umfassend dargestellt. Das Buch ist im Schwabe Verlag erschienen.

More of: Modern Age 20th / 21st century Women in history Architecture

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