Steinhof (Vienna)

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Church at the Steinhof

Steinhof is an old place name that is derived from the Ottakring quarries and stone warehouses that were formerly located in this area , which were called stone courtyards. At that time, the area belonged to the state of Lower Austria , whose state parliament decided in 1902 to build a state sanatorium and nursing home. This was built in what was then the 13th district of Vienna on the part of the area that bears the name Spiegelgrund and - at the same time as the Baumgartner Höhe sanatorium in the western part of the complex - opened in 1907. Since 1938 the area belongs to the 14th district, Penzing . The hospital area has been known as the Penzing Clinic since 2020 .

The Kurhaus in the western part of the facility, the former sanatorium, in which mainly wealthy private patients were housed, whose income was able to finance the operation of the main facility to a large extent.

Klinik Penzing, formerly Otto Wagner Hospital

The Psychiatric Hospital and Pulmonary Center of the City of Vienna , now run by the Vienna Hospital Association , was built according to plans by Otto Wagner and opened in 1907. It consists of sixty pavilions designed by Carlo von Boog , as well as the Art Nouveau theater in the center.

In 2000, under the name of the Social Medical Center Baumgartner Höhe Otto Wagner Spital with Care Center, five health facilities (special nursing home Baumgartner Höhe, neurological hospital Maria-Theresien-Schlössl, nursing home Sanatoriumstraße, psychiatric hospital Baumgartner Höhe and pulmonary center Baumgartner Höhe) were combined. In 2020 the facility was renamed Klinik Penzing .

Otto Wagner Church

The visual highlight is the Church of St. Leopold by Otto Wagner. The place is also called Lemoniberg after its eye-catching dome, which resembles half a lemon . The church at the Steinhof was reopened in 2007 after being closed for several years due to total renovation work. It is one of the most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings in Vienna.

Memorial to the history of National Socialist medicine in Vienna

The exhibition “The war against the inferior” of the Austrian Documentation Archive is located in the V building (entrance to the exhibition on the back).

The memorial to the history of National Socialist medicine in Vienna with a memorial and exhibition is also located in the center. Numerous euthanasia murders were committed in the institution that was then called Am Spiegelgrund , including 789 children.

Steinhofgrund

Steinhofgrund
Aerial view of the Steinhofgrund

The 45 hectare large stone courtyard adjacent to the north was once part of the hospital and was used for horticulture. There are still numerous old fruit trees there today, which with their sometimes thick trunks and their high proportion of old and dead wood are a unique habitat in Vienna. Since 2009, over 400 young fruit trees of old and proven regional varieties have been replanted by MA 49 - Vienna Forestry Office - in order to preserve the character of the area. In the 1950s there was a medium wave transmitter on the site , from which the American Army's Red-White-Red program was broadcast. The concrete foundations are still in place today. In the 1970s there were plans to block the area. However, since a community-wide Viennese referendum from December 10th to 12th, 1981 showed that the majority of the population rejected the project - 53.46% of the more than 267,000 people who took part were against the project - the Steinhof grounds were ultimately considered by the forestry office the city of Vienna maintained recreation area.

future

Viewing day on September 21, 2011

In April 2006 plans were published according to which the psychiatric department in the eastern part of the Otto Wagner Hospital should be relocated to other locations. The area is then to be used for apartments, hotels or business premises. The existing buildings are not to be significantly changed, so that the entire ensemble is preserved.

There is criticism of this project (as in the similar case of the GZW, the former Lainz care home ) from the parties of the Greens and ÖVP . According to their interpretation of the plans, it would be very possible that existing green areas will then be built. The new zoning plan for the Steinhof, which was decided in mid-December 2006, appears to have been milder than the original plans, but has not yet been implemented (2017).

After a partial sale of the hospital premises to two larger developers, the construction plans have become more concrete. During a public inspection of the eastern part of the site on September 21, 2011 with City Councilor Maria Vassilakou and at a citizens 'meeting on September 28, clear resistance from various citizens' initiatives was expressed. These demanded the creation of an overall concept for the subsequent use of the area in favor of the communal use before construction measures are taken. In April 2017, construction began on four apartment blocks right next to the pathology, where children's brains from the time of National Socialism were stored until 2002, by the city's own housing developer GESIBA . A re-use concept is still not available today.

literature

  • Elisabeth Koller-Glück: Carlo von Boog and Mauer-Öhling: The Kaiser Franz Joseph-Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Mauer-Öhling, an Art Nouveau jewel in Lower Austria . Verlag Niederösterreichisches Pressehaus, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-85326-863-3 .

Radio

  • Heike Tauch: Steinhof is everywhere. The Viennese sanatorium and nursing home Am Steinhof . DLF, 2008

Web links

Commons : Steinhof  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christiane Klusacek, Kurt tuner: Penzing - From the river Wien to Vienna Woods . Mohl Verlag, Korneuburg 1993, ISBN 3-900272-49-2 , p. 137-139, 144 .
  2. ^ Exhibition on Nazi crimes at Steinhof expanded (accessed June 17, 2010)
  3. ↑ a b Steinhof fewer - recreation area in Vienna
  4. ↑ The Standard of December 15, 2006
  5. ↑ http://www.steinhof-erhalten.at/ .

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 31 ″  N , 16 ° 16 ′ 47 ″  E