Merian Gardens

There was an estate with farm buildings next to the Brüglingen mill from an early date. In 1711, a small baroque manor house was built in addition. A hundred years later, the Basel merchant Christoph Merian senior acquired the 300-hectare Brüglingen Plain including the estate and gave it to his son Christoph as a wedding present in 1826.
The latter, a trained agronomist, set up a model farm here that also made use of the waterpower of the St. Al-banteich: a threshing machine was operated using a so-called “Pflotsch” waterwheel [a waterwheel that can be adjusted in height according to changing water levels].
Various buildings in Brüglingen show how actively Merian was involved in construction:
The orangery in Untere Brüglingen [lower Brüglingen], the tenant’s house and the Berri barn in Vorder-Brüglingen [the front part of Brüglingen], and of course Villa Merian, which was rebuilt in 1859.