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…
One of the most impressive and imposing buildings in the 1st district is the Otto Wagner-designed Österreichische Postsparkasse (Austrian Postal Savings Bank) building. It was opened in 1906 and represents not only the pinnacle of Wagner’s career, but also the culmination of decades of architectural study and design work. The bank itself was established by…
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…
If you have been in Vienna most likely you have noticed that in some parts of the city there are long and short passages that go through buildings and save you time when exploring the city. One important corridor is the one that takes you from the Mariahilferstraße to the Windmühlgasse or vice versa. Once in…
