Ruskin’s House No. 29, now replaced by the Hotel Bauer Grunwald

See House Book 1 p.34 for Ruskin’s account of his House No. 29, and, for its door, Door Book p.7, Door No. 7.

The Hotel Bauer Grunwald (San Marco 1459, Nadali & Vianello (1999) Tav 41) now occupying the site of Ruskin’s House 29 is not the building described by Ruskin. The description does not match and there is evidence from Università Iuav di Venezia Giovanni Sardi Archive at here that the Bauer Grunwald was commissioned by Giulio Grunwald from Giovanni Sardi (not Giuseppe Sardi which is suggested in some Guidebooks but impossible in terms of style and date) and opened in 1901. It replaced two buildings owned by Grunwald, and that is perhaps the explanation for the difficulty with Ruskin’s account for the modern observer. It was said at the time that it brought back to life the true spirit of Venetian Gothic architecture: ‘resuscitare lo spirito della tradizione architettonica gotica veneziana’ (Iuav as above). It is an important building for the insight it gives into the understanding of Venetian Gothic architecture by Venetians fifty years after the time of these notebooks.

House Number 29 as described by Ruskin (to the right)

Hotel Bauer Grunwald on the site of the two buildings above

[Version 0.05: May 2008]