Swiss chalet style

The style refers to traditional building designs characterised by widely projecting roofs and facades richly decorated with wooden balconies and carved ornaments.

It became highly appreciated on the continent by noble landowners who were impressed by the "simple life" of people living in the mountains.

The chalet style soon spread over the German Mittelgebirge landscapes such as the Harz mountains or the Dresden area and the adjacent North Bohemian region.

Around 1900, design elements were used in the construction of numerous bourgeois family homes as well as by notable architects like Heinrich von Ferstel to build larger mansions and hotels.

The style was further popularized by the first waves of tourism of rich people from the North and West of Europe and became popular in other parts of Europe and North America, notably in the architecture of Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands and in the country house architecture of Sweden and Cincinnati (Ohio, US), in the late 19th and early 20th century.