Paradeplatz () is a square on Bahnhofstrasse in downtown

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. It is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Switzerland and has become synonymous with wealth and the Swiss banks, being the location of the headquarters of both UBS and

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

. It is surrounded by four blocks of buildings.

Constituent buildings

In the block to the north, which is bounded by Talacker to the west, Bahnhofstrasse to the east and Paradeplatz to the south, is the home of

, amongst other businesses. The building, formerly known as the Kreditanstalt building, dates to 1873. The Lichthof shopping mall is at the eastern corner of the building. The hotel Baur en Ville (now Mandarin Oriental Savoy), on the eastern end of the square, opened in 1838. Also in this block is the Blancpain watch store and the Harry Winston jewellery store. This block is bounded by Züghusplatz () to the north and Poststrasse to the south. The Confiserie Sprüngli, in the southern block, opened in 1859. It is bounded by Paradeplatz to the north, Bahnhofstrasse to the east and Bleicherweg to the west. The UBS (formerly Bankverein) building on the western side dates to 1897–1899. It is bounded by Talacker to the north, Paradeplatz to the east and Bleicherweg to the south.

Transportation

Paradeplatz is closed to cars, but accessible by

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

or on foot. The square's Paradeplatz tram stop is one of the main nodal points of the Zurich tram network operated by VBZ.

History

The site of the square once lay outside of the medieval city walls, and was incorporated into the town with the construction of the new ramparts in 1642. During the 17th century, it served as a , known as Säumärt (). In 1819 it was renamed Neumarkt (, not to be confused with Neumarkt in Zurich's old town). In 1865, following the construction of Bahnhofstrasse, the square received its current name. Paradeplatz was the scene of clashes between insurgents and cantonal troops during the 1839 Züriputsch ().

Panoramic view

References

External links