Gemeindeamt Damüls

The Gemeindeamt Damüls occupies the old schoolhouse in Damüls 136, deep in the Bregenzerwald valley of Vorarlberg. The building sits just below the parish church and has been protected as a historic monument since the 1980s. Designed by the Bregenz architect Wilhelm Braun, it opened on 24 October 1921 as Damüls’ first purpose-built school. Its Walser-style timber frame rises on a high stone plinth, making it a two-storey ‘head-strick’ structure. A covered wooden gallery runs along one side, reached by an external staircase, while the roof is a simple purlin type finished with intricately sawn bargeboards. For forty years it served as the village school, before becoming the municipal offices in the 1960s. Inside, the original classroom layout has been adapted to offices, yet the exterior remains almost unchanged. The stone base and timber upper walls still show the same craftsmanship, and the gallery and stair retain their 1921 details. From the church path above, the building’s clean lines and modest scale stand out against the surrounding alpine backdrop.