The Resistance - Renaissance of Zurich

As I said in the other post entitled, Walking Down the Street of Zurich: Episode 1, from the hotel, we crossed to the other side of Pfingstweidstrasse where we saw this view of the two buildings just across. 

The Resistance-Renaissance

This building is named Resistance

This is a closer view of the same building, the Resistance

Resistance is an old building, I mean, it looks old--- that is, in terms of its structure, color and style, compared to the other buildings in the neighborhood. Do you notice the tall building at the back of the Resistance? Look towards the back of the building on the right. The tall building is more visible here. That's the Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel, one of the luxury hotels in Zurich.

The three photos above were taken on a very cold, foggy morning. It was difficult to get a clear view of the Renaissance from a distance. Unfortunately, we had no more time to come back to take a better shot before we left for home. So here's another photo of the two buildings together. In this view, you could appreciate them better--- the Resistance and Renaissance buildings side-by-side.

Photo from Littledutchboy of flickriver

Quite intriguing are the looks of these two buildings. As we gazed at them, we were speculating on possible stories. This made me recall (which took quite some time and effort!) the title of a movie I watched a good number of years ago. Batteries Not Included by Steven Spielberg! Anybody familiar with this movie? It's about a group of tenants in an apartment block who refused to move out despite orders and threats to vacate the place, such that the demolition couldn't be done by developers. They had to hire a local gang to make violent attempts at persuading the occupants to leave. However, visiting aliens in mechanical life-forms who became friends came to the rescue of the tenants. 

Frank and Faye Riley (real-life couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) face eviction after unscrupulous developers bought their apartment building.

Using their extraterrestrial abilities, the tenants' new-found friends were able to defeat the ploy of the developers by restoring every single damage caused in the building. Fantastic!

The friendly extraterrestrial machines who saved the tenants' home from demolition

I searched the net to read about the Resistance and Renaissance. Well, well, well, would you like to know what I found out! Well, it's very interesting! I learned that the Resistance is also referred to as the Nail House in Zurich West.

Resistance: The Nail House in Zurich West

A nail house, derived from the Chinese word, Dingzihu, is a term that means household or person who refuses to vacate their home to make room for real estate development. The word was coined by developers to refer to nails that are stuck in wood and cannot be hammered down. Nail house "stick out like nails in an otherwise modernized environment".

Well, I hope I have shared with you a bit of history. Now back to our Walk Down the Streets of Zurich: Episode 1. Are you still coming along? Remember, we just crossed the street and have barely begun... let's go!