Autor: Michael Würzelberger

Due to the great success of the specially tanned and dyed gloves, the production of the former imperial and royal glove factory J.E. Zacharias moved in 1886 to the three-storey factory building planned by Gustav Matthies from Mecklenburg in today’s 19th district near the Danube. Due to the high demand for water, the location of the elongated brick building, with the gables typical of the planner in the early Italian Renaissance style, in Nußdorf, which was still a suburb at the time, was ideal.

With the help of ultra-modern machines powered by steam and their own dynamos, around 300 employees produced up to 10,000 gloves per week, a large proportion of which were destined for export all over the world. After the death of the factory owner in 1904, the now listed building was used as an important print shop for lithographed posters and metal sheets until 1970 and then as a second-hand goods and antiques shop.

For more than 10 years now, the building has been used as “Haus Damaris”, a Caritas facility providing refugee accommodation and basic care for around 220 people. Volunteers and donations in kind are also sought via a dedicated FB group.

One of the highlights of a tour of the Prater Cottage in the 2nd district is the impressive clubhouse for the former “Cycling Club of State and Court Officials” in the Prater, designed by Austrian designer and Secession architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. The central wooden main front, designed as a wide portal niche, is a reminiscent of the entrances to the pavilions of the Vienna city railway stations by Otto Wagner.

Olbrich received the commission in spring 1898, one month after the start of construction of the important Viennese Secession building near the Ringstrasse, which he had planned in the Viennese Art Nouveau style.

Shortly after completion, the club expanded from cycling to tennis. The pavilion, which has remained relatively undamaged despite various adaptations, is still used for this purpose today by the same club – now “SV Schwarz-Blau”.

Interested in a tour of Vienna’s historic bourgeoisie? Just send me an e-mail.

The 113m long and up to 28m high Palm House in Schönbrunn Palace Park was first built in 1880-1882 according to plans by Arch. Xaver Segenschmid by the “k. und k. Hofschlosser und Eisenconstructeur” Ignaz Gridl and is one of the largest plant houses of its kind in the world.

State-of-the-art technology was built into the iron construction, which was extremely expensive even for the time, including a steam water heating system to create different climate zones for the Habsburg collection of exotic plants. There was also criticism of the use of marines to fix (and later clean) the 45,000 or so panes of glass with window putty. After massive damage during the Second World War and only gradual repairs, an almost 14-year renovation was later necessary, which was then completed in 1990.

Particularly noteworthy plants include a 350-year-old olive tree, a specimen of a Wollemia, a plant species that was only discovered in 1994, a home-grown Seychelles palm and the azalea collection. The former central “Maria Theresa Palm” and the subsequent “Sisi Palm” each had to be cut down as they threatened to burst through the roof.

The 2001 monument to Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) in the Votive Park next to the Votive Church made of Carrara marble by Italian sculptor Gianni Aricò shows a group of figures with three female musicians, probably an allusion to Vivaldi’s teaching activities at the “Ospedale della Pietà” in Venice, formerly an orphanage for girls, where he gave young women access to the concert business.

In front of it is an inclined plate with a metal relief and a portrait of the famous Venetian-Italian baroque composer and violinist, who was also ordained as a Roman Catholic priest at the age of 25.

The initiators of the monument – the Vienna and Venice Lions Club – wanted to create a symbol of international understanding between Italy and Austria as well as a reminder of Vivaldi’s move to Vienna in 1740, where he died just 10 months after his arrival, unnoticed by the music world, and was buried in the Bürgerspital cemetery in front of the former city wall on today’s Karlsplatz, which is also commemorated by a memorial plaque.

Evening view of the Danube Canal with a reflection of the inner city skyline at the „IBM Center“ on Obere Donaustraße in Leopoldstadt. The striking office building from 1969 was built according to plans by Viennese Arch. Georg Lippert on the site of the former Diana baths and renovated in 1999-2001.

The Liberation of the Spring Fountain, one of six fountains in the Stadtpark in the 1st district dating from 1903, shows two giant male figures struggling to lift a boulder that is obstructing the flow of water from a spring. The water flows from a gap that has already formed into an oval water basin at a lower level; between the group of figures and the fountain basin is a sculpted „natural rock“.

The Leithakalk fountain, designed by Hagebund artist Josef Heu, is part of a staircase leading to the lower Vienna river promenade opposite the dairy in the 3rd district and was purchased by the City of Vienna on the occasion of the VIII. Spring Exhibition.

The Georg-Emmerling-Hof municipal residential complex in the 2nd district – opposite Schwedenplatz – built in 1957 and renovated between 2019 and 2022 was named after the social democratic politician and Viennese deputy mayor (1919-1934) Georg Emmerling.

The building, designed by Arch. Rudolf Hofbauer, Elisabeth Hofbauer-Lachner and Leo Kammel, with six to seven-storey side wings flanking a single-storey building with a flat roof and store windows on the first floor, also has a landscaped courtyard.

In this courtyard there is also a sculpture of a goat by the sculptor Alois Heidel, who specialized in animal sculptures, whose emaciated appearance, probably alluding to the times of hardship survived during the Second World War, is said to have triggered discussions. Also worth mentioning is the two-storey half-sculpture Themroc from 2021 with a depiction of workers and two natural stone reliefs called „Market“ and „Harbour Motif“ on the façade facing the Danube Canal.

The Karmelitermarkt in the 2nd district is one of the oldest markets still in existence in Vienna. With over 17,000 visitors per week, it is one of the insider tips among Vienna’s markets.

There is a wide range of products on offer: in addition to cheese specialties, horse and bison meat, you can buy organic fruit and vegetables, various specialties such as honey, wood-fired bread and fresh fish or seafood. One of the largest farmers‘ markets in Vienna takes place on Saturdays in particular and around 60 squares are filled with colorful market activity.

As early as 1671, the market privileges granted by Emperor Leopold I allowed a weekly market for food and livestock to be held on the square in front of the Carmelite Church. In 1910, it was moved to the area still used today.

The Hermesvilla in the Lainzer Tiergarten in the 13th district was designed by the Ringstrasse architect Carl von Hasenauer in 1886 and was a gift from Emperor Franz Josef I to his wife, Empress Elisabeth. The palace was named after the statue “Hermes the Guardian”, commissioned by Elisabeth from the Berlin sculptor Ernst Herter, which is now located in the garden on the south side of the villa and is probably a reference to the empress’s love of travel as the patron god of travelers.

It is said that Franz Josef hoped to keep Sisi in Vienna for longer, but this was thwarted by her assassination around three years later. As well as providing an important impetus for the development of the hunting and nature conservation area and being one of the first buildings in Vienna with an electricity connection, the furnishings and paintings by Hans Markart, Gustav Klimt and Viktor Tilgner inside the country house are particularly noteworthy.

Now run by the Wien Museum, visitors can not only view the private apartments of the imperial couple, including the famous bedroom with its unique mix of historicism, Markart style and Secessionism, but also discover a range of private objects, regular special exhibitions and, of course, the magnificent surroundings.