Experience

Today’s guesthouse was built in the years 1679/80 and the old journeyman’s house was replaced by a new building, which housed a tavern and an inn. Because it still served as a Town Hall, the coat of arms of the Town of Horgen, the Swan, gave the house its name and was enthroned in the first pub sign. The tavern shield, forged around 1730, still refers to the guesthouse past as a meeting place for community leaders and citizens.

The Schwan has been privately owned since 1857 and established itself as a meeting place for Horgen’s working-class movement, later the trade union and the Social Democratic Party, founded in 1908.

At that time Josefine Forrer-Bärtschi took the fate of the guesthouse into her resolute hands. For 50 years, she remained owner and hostess of the Schwan. Under her aegis, it was rebuilt and renovated in 1956/57. Both halls disappeared in favor of hotel rooms. The old community center became a popular place to stay for business guests from the area and abroad.

For a considerable amount of time, the resolute landlady was looking for a successor who respected the history of the house and wanted to keep it as a restaurant. In 2004, with Vito Esposito and his wife Doris, she found the people who were willing to invest their hearts in the historical walls.

After extensive renovations in spring 2005, the Schwan now presents itself as a hotel that pampers its global clientele, guests from all demographic strata, with charm and style in the ambience of a lively, harmonious combination of tradition and modernity.

In 2008, the former Feller Confiserie was converted into a Vinothek and became part of the Taverne restaurant, increasing the restaurant’s capacity to 80 seats and creating a space for private events for up to 24 people.

After 14 exciting years, Vito and Doris Esposito sold the house to the Horgen locals, Heidi and Hanspeter Günthardt and Rolf Weber. Ruedi Hintermann has been Managing Director of the Schwan since 2015 and has taken over the management of the house as tenant with the house sale in the summer of 2017…