Café Landtmann
The Café Landtmann in Vienna is a typical Viennese coffee house in the style of the Ringstrasse . It is located in the 1st district at Universitätsring 4, at the corner of Löwelstraße 22, and is well known throughout the city.
location
The coffee house is located on the ground floor of the apartment building called Palais Lieben-Auspitz , in the immediate vicinity of the Burgtheater , the University of Vienna and the party headquarters of the Social Democrats and not far from the Vienna City Hall with the Rathauspark , the Federal Chancellery and three ministries. The café is therefore frequented by actors, politicians, civil servants and journalists and is the venue for press conferences.
history
Founder Franz Landtmann (1873–1881)
The coffeehouse was opened on October 1st, 1873 by cafeteria Franz Landtmann as "Vienna's most elegant and largest café localities" in a prominent corner house built in 1872 on Franzensring, which was also new at the time (this was the address of this part of Vienna's Ringstrasse until 1919). The Ringstrasse had been opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1865, but it was far from being completed in the vicinity of the coffee house: the town hall had been under construction since 1872, but was not opened until 1883. The main university building was built between 1877 and 1884, the Burgtheater between 1874 and 1888. In its first few years, the coffee house was therefore mainly surrounded by large construction sites.
Franz Landtmann
Franz Landtmann was born on March 9, 1841 in Perchtoldsdorf near Vienna , was married and had four children. Until 1868 he owned a coffee house in the Vienna suburb of Hernals , which he sold for an inn in Hernals. He sold this in 1872 for 18,700 thalers. From the sale of a factory, his father provided his son Franz with the financial means to open the café in 1873. In the year of Black Friday on the Vienna Stock Exchange it was remarkable that a manufacturer had such funds and could also make other purchases. It showed that the father had invested wisely.
In 1878 his eldest daughter died and a few months later his father. These private losses, as well as the rather large fortune that he now inherited, and the permanent construction site in the area, may have led Landtmann to sell the coffee house in 1881.
He was the grandfather of Friedrich Bär and the uncle of Michael Fellner .
Franz Landtmann first moved to Villach and then to Franzensfeste , South Tyrol , and ran restaurants there. He died on August 19, 1905 in Brixen .
Owners Wilhelm and Rudolf Kerl (1881–1916)
In 1881 Landtmann sold his coffee house to the brothers Wilhelm and Rudolf Kerl, who continued it under the name Landtmann and expanded it towards Oppolzergasse. On February 24, 1881, the two brothers received the license to run a coffee house in Café Landtmann. Rudolf soon retired from active business life, Wilhelm Kerl continued to run the café on his own until 1916.
Owner Karl Kraus (1916–1926)
Wilhelm Kerl then sold it in 1916, worn down by the scarcity of the First World War , to Karl Anton Kraus, previously a butcher and innkeeper. He only ran the coffee house for five years, because from 1921 it was operated by a Hokare Ges.mbH (the name stands for hotel, coffee and restaurant businesses). This company had to be liquidated in 1925/1926.
Owners Angela and Konrad Zauner (1926–1976)
Café Landtmann was bought by the married couple Konrad and Angela Zauner in autumn 1926. The new owners had it completely rebuilt in 1929 according to a design by Ernst Meller, who was experienced in furnishing coffee houses: with the interior furnishings that have been preserved to this day and are under monument protection. Particularly noticeable are four wooden pillars at the entrance, which were created by Hans Scheibner and whose decoration depicts the Burgtheater's premiere scenes. With this elaborate interior design, the Landtmann consolidated its position as the most elegant coffee house in Vienna. In 1949 Konrad Zauner's son Erwin took over the management of the café and continued to run it with great success.
In 1974 the company received the state award and has been allowed to use the federal coat of arms in business transactions ever since .
Owner of the Querfeld family (since 1976)
In 1976 the current owners, the Querfeld family, took over the restaurant and renovated it again in 1980.
Robert Böck, only called Mr. Robert on duty, worked in the café for 28 years, many years as head waiter in a tuxedo ; he knew all the important guests personally. On his last day at work, on December 23, 2003, numerous celebrities appeared to say goodbye to the coffee house. Mayor Michael Häupl served Mr. Robert, who had served him so often, a "little brown". He also presented him with the “Golden Town Hall Man” “for the most famous, most discreet and most courteous waiter in Vienna”.
The Querfeld family has a total of ten establishments in Vienna, six of which are coffee houses.
Details
Small stage
In the basement under the coffee was to Czeike the cabaret "Merry Landtmann" for the dancer already 1936-1938 Cilli Wang set up by her husband. In 1953 the small stage "Die Tribüne" was founded in the basement (since 2002: "Die neue Tribüne", directed by Karlheinz Wukow). It is one of the numerous small theaters in Vienna that operate with modest public support and offer authors, actors and directors opportunities to work.
Winter garden
In 2007, a winter garden was added to the facade towards the Burgtheater based on a design by Manfred Wehdorn for 1.5 million euros (Berndt Querfeld). With 87 square meters and 29 tables, the winter garden is almost as spacious as the large hall of the café; this increased the capacity of the restaurant by a quarter.
Landtmann's Bel-Etage
In 2012, three event rooms were opened one floor above the café, which are known as "Landtmann's Bel-Etage ". One of the rooms is named after Berta Zuckerkandl , who ran her well-known salon in the building (entrance Oppolzergasse 6) from 1917–1938 , a meeting place for artists, scientists and politicians.
Price for water
In 2013 the coffee house got into the media because guests who only order tap water instead of other drinks no longer receive this service for free. The regulation was heavily criticized in part. The glass of water with the ordered coffee will continue to be served free of charge, as is the Viennese coffee house tradition.
Others
According to the operating family, an average of 2.8 press conferences per day are held in Café Landtmann .
Every summer since 2003, the café has been the setting for the coffee house theater, Ink & Coffee .
In March 2009 in Tokyo in the central Minato-ku district, namely in the Kitaaoyama district on Aoyama Street, a restaurant called "Café Landtmann" opened as a franchise.
Guests
After Czeike, the coffee house was visited by artists such as Attila Hörbiger , Paul Hörbiger , Oskar Kokoschka , Hans Moser , Max Reinhardt , Oskar Werner and Paula Wessely . Among the politicians he names Julius Deutsch , Robert Danneberg and Karl Seitz , who were part of the “Red Vienna” , as well as the then very popular Chancellor Julius Raab in the post-war period . Gustav Mahler met Karl Goldmark here , Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich were among the “passing through” guests, the authors Jura Soyfer , Felix Salten , Thomas Mann and John Boynton Priestley also frequented the Landtmann. The owners themselves also name Peter Altenberg , Sigmund Freud , Emmerich Kálmán , Curd Jürgens , Otto Preminger and Romy Schneider as former regular guests.
literature
- Café Landtmann in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
- Hans Veigl : Viennese coffee house manager. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-218-00587-6 .
- Peter Roos, Clemens Fabry: The angel in the coffee house. "Herr Robert", Cafe Landtmann, Vienna and the world. Provincial Library, Weitra 2004, ISBN 3-85252-569-1 .
Web links
- Café Landtmann
- Querfeld family
- The new grandstand (basement theater)
- Ink & Coffee (Coffee House Theater)
- Photos from Café Landtmann
Individual evidence
- ↑ Illustrated Wiener Extrablatt . Wiener Allgemeine Zeitungs- und Verlags-AG [1924-1928], 1875 ( google.de [accessed on December 13, 2017]).
- ↑ Strangers sheet . Elbemühl, 1868 ( google.de [accessed December 13, 2017]).
- ↑ Illustrated Wiener Extrablatt . Wiener Allgemeine Zeitungs- und Verlags-AG [1924-1928], 1875 ( google.de [accessed on December 13, 2017]).
- ↑ Brixen Chronicle . No. 102 , August 26, 1905, p. 5 .
- ^ Daily newspaper Der Standard , Vienna, December 22, 2003
- ^ Wiener Zeitung , January 13, 2004, about a TV portrait of Böck
- ↑ Lucian O. Meysels : Austria is in my salon. Berta Zuckerkandl and her time. 2., ext. Edition. Edition Illustrierte Neue Welt, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-9500356-0-5 .
- ^ Website of Café Landtmann ( Memento of November 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), section "Press conferences"
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 41.3 " N , 16 ° 21 ′ 41" E