Mr Koerfer wanted us to see the kitchen - the canopy above the stove carried extracted air to an outlet on the roof terrace disguised under the concrete table.

Koerfer, building a new fortune in Switzerland, re-married and lived near Bern. Keen to build a bespoke home he told us he wrote to Frank Lloyd Wright. He recalled his relief that he didn't pursue FLW as he died in 1959. The land Koerfer bought was on a near unbuild-able slope on Lake Maggiore. Eventually he engaged Marcel Breuer and Herbert Beckhard and the house was finished in 1967.

Bespoke dining room furniture by Breuer and Beckhard

The house is secluded and restrained with granite walls and the levels inside and out, connected with stairs with cantilevered concrete treads.

Cantilevered stairs link floors both inside and out

A key element of the brief was that the interior must accommodate the owner's extensive art collection. This resulted in large areas of masonry wall.

Granite, stone and concrete, key materials throughout the house

The art collection was highly regarded and diverse and comprised works rarely lent to museums. To Jacques Koefer his paintings were like family. We shared with him the thrill when a precious Mondrian was returned from restoration. Unwrapping it while telling us how the surface of Mondrian's geometric paintings crack. The paint, each coat layered at 90 degrees to the previous coat, builds a thickness that stiffens over time while the underlying canvas remains flexible, the tension leads to cracking.

The Mondrian re hung after restoration

Jacques Koefer died in 1990 and the collection sold. The house remains privately owned.

Musings from my life in photography and architecture ©Lynne Bryant
All photographs ©Richard Bryant. They may not be downloaded, scraped or copied in anyway without prior permission from Richard Bryant and negotiation of a licence.