Archive: Aug 2017

Palais Strudelhof: Not quite as delicious as it sounds! Despite a name that recalls that most famous of Austrian pastries, the Palais Strudelhof sadly has nothing to do with strudel of any kind. Rather, it bears the name of Peter Strudel, who first built a sprawling residence here in 1690. In 1713, the Strudelhof was…

The history of the Hofapotheke goes back to 1744 when Maria Theresia ordered the imperial court to buy the pharmacy “Zum goldenen Stern” (“to the golden star”). After the acquisition, it became the Hofapotheke (pharmacy of the imperial court). There is a story about money surrounding the Hofapotheke. During the Seven Years War, a war…

Have you noticed that many of Vienna’s 19th century buildings do not start with the first floor? The ground floor is usually the “Erdgeschoss”, but what should be the first floor, and sometimes also the second floor, have different names: “Mezzanin”, “Untertheilung”, “Hochparterre”, “Halbstock”, and perhaps other names. We don’t know the reason why all…

Can you imagine Vienna during the construction of the Ringstraße? The whole area was a construction site for many years. Fortifications being demolished, buildings under construction everywhere, and plans for more construction being prepared. During this period, many architects made a name for themselves building several buildings and leaving their mark in the city. One of…

Some time ago, we told you about the Loos Haus, “the house without eyebrows”, and the controversy that its simple façade led to. Well, roughly 120 years later another building faced a similar challenge. Have you ever heard of the Haas Haus? Probably you have, but perhaps you don’t know that there were actually three versions…

At one end of the Wollzeile street in the city center you will find yourself at a metro station, namely Stubentor. Similar to the Schottentor, the “Tor” refers to one of the city gates that were located in the area. The history of the Stubentor goes back to the 13th century and it was eventually…

The Schwedenplatz metro station was built in 1978/79 and is the connection of the metro lines U1 and U4; a vital intersection in Vienna’s public transportation system. Part of Vienna’s fortifications used to stand at the Schwedenplantz, but after the Kaiser decided to remove the walls, the fortifications in this area were demolished in 1858/59. One…

We have mentioned several times that Vienna’s city center was surrounded by walls. Well, those were not the only walls that the city had. Kaiser Leopold I decided to add an additional line of defence to the city by building 13 km of walls in 1704. This wall was nothing compared to the fortifications of the…

The city of Vienna has large green areas as part of the city is flanked by hills. In some districts, not a lot of time is needed to reach the hills and if you walk far enough you end up in the federal state that surrounds Vienna, namely Lower Austria. Many people go to the…

In 1909, Leopold Goldman hired Adolf Loos to build a store for his gentlemen’s outfitters business. Loos agreed to do this with the condition that he would have free hand when designing the façade. During construction, the façade was covered with a scaffold and in 1910, when construction was basically finished, the time came to…