Holidays 1912-1961

In Herrsching am Ammersee, there is the Franz-Zell-Straße in the Lochschwab part of town. It leads directly to the lake. The properties and their access road, formerly Badstraße, belonged to Franz Zell.

In 1912, the architect had his holiday home built on one of the plots, directly on the lake. It was the prototype of a log cabin that he had designed for the Bavarian Trade Show in 1912. Zell’s holiday home and its furnishings have remained intact for almost 100 years with just a few changes. In 2011, it was replaced by a slightly larger new building.

How Badstraße became Franz-Zell-Straße is a story that is still fondly told in Herrsching today. An ongoing neighbourly dispute between Franz Zell and a Munich margarine manufacturer is said to be the reason behind it. During a chance meeting of the two on a jetty, the argument escalated and one pushed the other into the water. As revenge, Zell then gave the road that led across his land to the municipality, with the condition that it be named after him. The margarine factory owner’s new address was now Franz-Zell-Straße.

Zell’s daughters lived in the family’s holiday home on Franz-Zell-Strasse in the 1950s.

Franz Zell was buried in Herrsching in 1961.

Michaela Thomas