Vienna Photos: Wienzeilenhaus by Otto Wagner

         back to "vienna pictures"         

By now you should have realised that I have a soft spot for Baroque and Art Nouveau (Jugendstil in Austria and Germany). Whilst Vienna′s outstanding Baroque heritage justifies the strong representation of this style in this photo gallery, the prominence of Jugendstil buildings is mostly due to my preferences. The picture above shows details of the Wienzeilenhaus by Otto Wagner.

In fact, there are two Wienzeilen-houses by the grand old man of Jugendstil: The Majolikahaus next door and the one shown in the picture. The ornaments were designed by the well-known artist Kolo Moser, a co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop). Both houses by the Wienzeile were refurbished in recent years; they can be found right at the Naschmarkt, Vienna′s biggest fresh food market. They are still used as office and residential buildings.

Once they were part of a vision by Otto Wagner to make the Wiental (a river valley crossing Vienna) something like a second Ringstraße, a boulevard not dominated by historicist architecture, but Jugendstil. All that is left of his idea are the subway stops of line U4 - particularly nice between Schönbrunn and Karlsplatz - and a small number of buildings. Most importantly, these include the Secession, the two Wienzeilenhäuser, the Rüdigerhof and a few smaller ones. Today, heavy traffic makes the Wiental less attractive than in Wagner′s days, but in recent years, it is become one of Vienna′s most fashionable areas.