Achenfeldstraße

Achenfeldstraße in Garmisch starts in the tourist filled walking street of Am Kurpark — just on the other side of the outdoor seating section of the Cafe Krönner. 

According to the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments, the building at Achenfeldstraße 7 was built by architect Johann Ostler in 1905.1

The residence boasts a charming, however simple, lüftlmalerei of a Madonna with child, about the same size as its windows on the second floor.  

Achenfeldstraße 16, “Haus Neuner.”

Achenfeldstraße 18, “Haus Stöttner.”

“Gästehaus Sissi” at Achenfeldstraße 31.

Above the door, signed by Gerhard Ester, in “94”, a medallion commemorating Empress Elisabeth (“Sisi”) of Austria (1837 – 1898), flanked by two wingless putti in hats — one with a butterfly net, the other with an umbrella and a bouquet of flowers.

In 1932, an operetta about the empress called “Sissi” premiered in Vienna.  Although the Empress was called “Sisi,” it was the incorrect operatic spelling that stuck, and gave this particular gästhaus its name.

But one might not even notice the paintings around the windows or the door, for the full-sized lüftlmalerei at ground level on the wall beside it.

The painting, a group of Garmischers after-work, with all the relaxing guests decked out in traditional attire, enjoying a beverage beneath a large tree, while a small band encourages a couple to dance nearby.  At the far right, just beside a fellow seemingly ignoring the dancers to instead gaze at his own upraised beer — or perhaps toasting an unseen passerby — is the artist Gerhard Ester’s signature and another date, letting us know that this scene was painted 16 years after the one above the door, in the year 2000.

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  1. Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. Denkmalliste, Markt Garmisch-Partenkirchen. 4 August 2020, www.geodaten.bayern.de/denkmal_static_data/externe_denkmalliste/pdf/denkmalliste_merge_180117.pdf, p. 5: "D-1-80-117-295 Achenfeldstraße 7. Ehem. Wohn- und Bürogebäude, zweigeschossiger asymmetrisch gegliederter Flachsatteldachbau im alpenländischen Heimatstil mit Eckerker, Balkon und Giebellaube, von Johann Ostler, 1905".