Casa Piccola
The Grand Café Casa Piccola was a well-known coffee house founded by Dominik Casapiccola in 1830 in the Viennese suburb of Laimgrube , the first house at the beginning of what was then Laimgrube Hauptstraße 1, which existed on today's Mariahilferstraße 1B until 1962.
location
The original Casa Piccola was located on the outer edge of the Vienna Glacis and was the first "small house" on the left opposite the Getreidemarkt , on which Laimgrube was main street number 1 at the time. The elevated position of the Viennese suburb around the former Spitalberg ( Spittelberg) became As a result of the sieges of the Vienna Fortress, it was repeatedly used strategically, while the good view of Vienna after the war became a special attraction for guests of the coffee house. The Grand Cafe Casapiccola was compared to the Café des Mille Colonnes in Paris, mainly because of the excellent view.
history
This elevated location of the house Casa Piccola in the oldest Viennese suburb of Laimgrube on the border with the suburb of Mariahilf around the former Spitalberg (Spittelberg) was strategically used for the first time in 1529 and 1683 as a result of the siege of Vienna, and for the last time on May 12, 1809 by Napoleon I. ., whose council of war was assembled at this point. In all cases, the fortress of Vienna was shelled with cannons and howitzers from this elevated position, but the story goes that Emperor Napoleon was not satisfied with the course of the siege of Vienna, but marched into Vienna on May 13, 1809 and in July 1809 won the war with the Battle of Wagram .
Dominik Casapiccola, founder and namesake, set up an elegant coffee house at the address of the small house in 1830, which was enlarged in 1837 through a renovation. In 1895 the café was part of a new building, a residential and commercial building at today's Mariahilferstrasse 1B. The corner tower with its unique tower dome is a striking distinguishing feature. In 1897 the Grand Cafe Casa Piccola was taken over and shaped the history of Viennese coffee house culture until 1962. The subsequent owners of a well-known Graz retail chain took over most of the existing interior from 1962 and only changed this from 1985. The tenant known as a delicatessen dealer, a "Viennese Original “ Carl Obertimpfler , born in 1843, was very popular in Vienna. He was the operator of the Café de l`Europe at Stephans Platz 1, Vienna-Innere Stadt. Carl was the leaseholder of the Grand Café from 1897 to 1918. The father of the actress Lina Loos mainly had guests from the arts and theater in his Grand Café Casa Piccola.
Carl Obertimpfler sold the Café 1918, Lina Beautiful , in turn, so as owner of an acquaintance Vienna restaurants Vienna-new building, " Beautiful operations " gründete.1928 let Lina Beautiful founder of a new coffee culture in Vienna Cafe by architect Carl Witzmann new set up. During the years 1918 to 1927, the 84-year-old Carl Obertimpfler was one of the most loyal regulars and could be found almost every day in the company of a literary society around the Viennese writer Peter Altenberg in the Grand Café. Ms. Lina ran the café as part of the Schöner company as her actual headquarters after 1945 to 1962. From 1904 to 1938, the internationally known fashion salon of the sisters Emilie, Helene and Paula Flöge , the Klimt, was on the floor above the Casa Piccola café -During the era of the painter Gustav Klimt , clothes were produced in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte . Since the Flöge sisters' business had lost its best customers in 1938, the sister withdrew from the fashion industry. Memorial plaques on the house remember Lina Loos and the Flöge sisters.
Style and decor
The Grand Café Casa Piccola shows itself on old photos and postcards as very splendidly furnished, like the ballroom of a castle, with a chandelier. The Grand Café offered an excellent panoramic view from a higher location in the Viennese suburb of Mariahilf. For example, Jean-Charles reported in 1840: "Mr. Casapiccola's coffee house ... has the most beautiful location, the most imposing local and the most elegant billiards ... You overlook half the city, the friendly Glacis and the Kahlengebirge ." Because of its beautiful view compared the Casapiccola to the Café des Mille Colonnes in Paris.
literature
- Friedrich Achleitner: Austrian architecture in the 20th century. A guide. Volume 3/1: Vienna. 1.-12. District. Residenz-Verlag. Salzburg 1990, pp. 193, 198
- Ernest Blaschek [ed.]: Mariahilf then and now. Gerlach & Wiedling, Vienna [a. a.] 1926 (Wiener Heimatbücher), p. 143 f.
- The Viennese coffee house. From the beginning to the interwar period. Catalog for the 66th special exhibition of the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna. Self-published by the Museums of the City of Vienna, Vienna 1980, pp. 74, 90
- Elfriede Faber: Vienna in old postcards. Volume 6/7, p. 45
- Gustav Gugitz: Bibliography on the history and urban history of Vienna. Edited by the Association for Regional Studies of Lower Austria and Vienna. Volume 4: Profane topography according to the 21 districts (2nd-21st district). Jugend & Volk, Vienna 1958, p. 153
- Gustav Gugitz: The Viennese coffee house. A piece of cultural and local history. German Verlag für Jugend und Volk, Vienna 1940, pp. 177–178
- Catalog for the 112th special exhibition of the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna (Emilie Flöge and Gustav Klimt)
- Wilhelm Kisch: The old streets and squares of Vienna's suburbs and their historically interesting houses. (Photomechanical reproduction [d. Edition of 1895]). Brenner 1967, Cosenza, Volume 3, p. 310 ff.
- Bartel F. Sinhuber: A guest in old Vienna. Vienna 1989, p. 104 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gustav Gugitz: The Viennese coffee house. A piece of cultural and local history. Vienna: Deutscher Verlag für Jugend und Volk 1940, p. 178
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 6.3 " N , 16 ° 21 ′ 38.7" E