Ehem Ansitz Kronhalden, Kronhaldenweg 17, 19

The former Ansitz Kronhalden stands in Bregenz’s upper town, a three-storey building under historic preservation. Once a farm called Hofgut zur Halde in 1370, it passed through Montfort counts, Austrian dukes, Wolfurt Leber family and Bregenz patricians Jehlin before becoming a priests’ seminary in 1722. After 1779 it belonged to Mehrerau Abbey, served as a municipal old people’s home from 1924 to 2007, and is now a block of flats. The main block has a pitched roof with two dormers and two extra storeys added during the latest conversion. Modern balconies show how the interior now serves residents. Only the cellar and ground floor of the two-storey outbuilding survive; the upper floors are new. During full renovation a basement garage was built in the courtyard, and archaeologists and building historians examined the site. Visitors see a tidy courtyard between the two houses, where the garage entrance is discreetly placed. The main façade still carries traces of its centuries as a seminary and old people’s home. Inside, the flats are arranged around a central staircase lit by the dormers. The outbuilding’s preserved stone walls contrast with the newer timber-and-glass additions above.