Dianabad (Vienna)
The Dianabad in Leopoldstadt , Vienna's 2nd district since 1850 , was originally built as a bathhouse with bathtubs. Extensions and renovations made it a luxurious indoor swimming pool for the affluent upper class and for decades also a hotel. Its 200-year existence has turned it into a house with an eventful history.
First Dianabad (Obere Donaustraße 93-95)
The first Dianabad on the Vienna Danube Canal was built from 1808 to 1810 by the French-born builder Charles de Moreau on a plot of land bought by him and the Viennese painter Carl Hummel and opened on July 1, 1810. The bath house corresponded to "feudal-bourgeois demands" and offered bathtubs with heated water from the Danube Canal.
After a renovation in 1830, the Dianabad presented itself as a bathroom with 68 bathing cabins arranged around a garden courtyard with 78 bathtubs made of zinc, which were filled with heated water. There was already a gender segregation when the tickets were sold.
When the “Norische Gesellschaft für Filtrierung” established an agency in Vienna in 1839, the owners of the Dianabath decided to offer their guests filtered water from the Danube Canal and at the same time to expand the pool with a “full and swimming pool”. Christian Friedrich Ludwig Förster was hired as the architect and Karl Etzel as the steel construction expert for the planning work for this extension .
The renovation began in 1841 and was completed in 1843. During this time, the first covered swimming pool on the European continent was built. The hall was 53 meters long and 20 meters wide and spanned a 36 meters long and 13 meters wide pool. In addition to the changing rooms, there were relaxation rooms and a room for a hairdresser. The opening took place on May 20, 1843.
Summer season
While the pool water was heated to a constant 31 degrees Celsius , it was decided not to heat the room air for reasons of economy. This did not make winter operation possible, but extended the bathing season in spring and autumn by around two months each compared to swimming in outdoor pools.
Winter season
During the bath-free period, the swimming pool was covered and the swimming pool was decorated as a concert and ballroom. This new Diana Hall (so called in newspaper advertisements) was opened on November 12, 1860 with the "Diana Polka" by Josef Strauss . Eduard Strauss made his debut here in 1862, Carl Michael Ziehrer in 1863; the famous Fiaker-Milli appeared. On 15 February 1867, the Strauss waltz experienced here " On the Beautiful Blue Danube of" at a recital Vienna Men's Singing Society 's followed by enthusiastic applause premiere .
On October 24, 1868, the Alcazar entertainment establishment was opened in the Diana Hall . According to self-promotion, Carl Michael Ziehrer and his band and the women's orchestra of the pianist Josephine Weinlich (from approx. 1873: Amann-Weinlich; 1840–1887), founded as a septet , played during the breaks of the soloist concert . A particular highlight of the program was the first guest performance of the violin virtuoso Carl Herrmann Unthan (1848–1929), born without arms , who used his toes to perform his pieces , which he had apparently rehearsed with fearful precision - which was done in the restaurant that also served food at the reviewer of the Neue Freie Press caused an embarrassing feeling .
There was also a sanatorium in the building , which in January 1874 was under the direction of pulmonologist Anton Loew (1847–1907; see Gertrud Löw ).
In 1879 the inner courtyard was converted into an open summer swimming pool based on designs by Otto Wagner, and steam heating was installed in 1889. This enabled the year-round operation of the Dianabad as a swimming pool.
Second Dianabad
After a change of ownership - the bath became the property of the "Dianabad Actien Company" - the old Dianabad was demolished and replaced by a luxurious five-story complex in 1913–1917 according to the plans of the architect Peter Paul Brang , who had been determined in a competition . As early as 1900, Brang had planned a public bath named after Emperor Franz Joseph I in Reichenberg , known as the Vienna of the North .
This second Dianabad had two swimming pools (for men with a sports pool, for women with a wave pool), steam and tub baths, sun baths and a hotel that took up the entire street on Obere Donaustraße. A sanatorium, shops, hairdressing salon, pedicure, restaurant (some can be entered in a bathrobe), clothes cleaning, a dog bath with a veterinarian and other attractions were also offered.
In 1914 Leopold Forstner created mosaics for the circular entrance hall with a large goldfish basin in the middle, Georg Leisek in 1914/1915 created the sculptural decorations for the bathroom. Visiting the bathroom was offered in three classes with correspondingly graded levels of comfort. Since, in contrast to the municipal Jörgerbad, which opened in 1914, the gender segregation was retained, the entire bath had to be built practically twice. The opening took place on August 15, 1917 during the three-year war.
Dianabad was badly damaged in the Battle of Vienna in 1945, first by bomb hits and later by heavy fighting between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army along the Danube Canal. The hotel burned down completely in April 1945. On August 1, 1946, provisional operations were resumed in the bathroom. In October 1947 international fights between Austria and Switzerland (men's competitions) and Austria and Czechoslovakia (women's competitions) in swimming, jumping and water polo were held here.
Since a general renovation seemed unprofitable and no thought was given to the monument protection of this building in the Ringstrasse style, it was later decided to demolish it. The hotel ruins were demolished in 1963, the outdated but still functional bathroom in 1965/1966; the large chimney was blown up on August 12, 1967.
Third Dianabad (Lilienbrunngasse 7–9)
The private Dianabad corporation was not interested in a new building; An office building was built on the Danube Canal (Obere Donaustraße 93-95), the so-called “ IBM House”. The city of Vienna acquired the rear part of the property in order to build the third Dianabad, now a municipal bath, according to the decision of December 2, 1968.
Construction work began in 1969 and was carried out according to plans by Friedrich Florian Grünberger (who also designed other baths for the city administration) and Georg Lippert . The pool, which opened on June 14, 1974, comprised several swimming pools, two sauna sections with various chambers, a health resort, restaurant and buffet, as well as a hairdresser, perfumery, cosmetic salon, sports massage, pedicure and parking garage. A comprehensive renovation had been pending since 1991, but was shelved as unprofitable. In June 1995 the local council decided to build a new building. During the demolition, a fire broke out in November 1995, which accelerated the demolition. It ended in 1996.
Fourth Dianabad
The current Dianabad - this time under the name Diana-Erlebnisbad - was rebuilt as part of an office building, but no longer as a municipal bath, but by the Dianabad Errichtungs- und BetriebsGmbH. Its shareholders are Raiffeisen-Holding NÖ-Wien and the UNIQA insurance group; both have their headquarters in the immediate vicinity. Construction began in 1998 and the new adventure pool was opened in October 2000. The wall design in the restaurant and children's birthday area was created by Dianabad employee Jan Balak and his sister Suska Balakova.
The funding of the City of Vienna in the amount of 200 million schillings (approx. 14.5 million euros) was tied to the condition that the company would run for at least 20 years. With the foreseeable expiry of this period, the operating company announced that it would cease operations in October 2020.
See also
literature
- The new bathing and swimming facility at Dianabade in Vienna . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 13 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig September 23, 1843, p. 202-203 ( books.google.de ).
- Claudia Feichtenberger: Our baths - from the bathing room to the adventure world. Viennese spa culture - then and now . Compress-Verlag, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-900607-25-7 .
- Helga Gibs: Leopoldstadt - small world on the big river . Mohl, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-900272-54-9 .
Web links
- The current website of the Dianabad
- Entry on Das Dianabad in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Felix Czeike (Ed.): Historisches Lexikon Wien . Volume 2, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-218-00544-2 , p. 29.
- ↑ Christine Klusacek, Kurt Stimmer: The city and the river. Vienna and the Danube . Dachs-Verlag, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-85058-113-6 , p. 199 f.
- ↑ Theater and Art News. (...) Alcazar. In: Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 1494/1868, October 27, 1868, p. 11 ( unpaginated ) middle. (Online at ANNO ). .
- ^ Advertisement in the daily newspaper Die Presse , Vienna, of October 24, 1868, p. 12
- ↑ Little Chronicle. Staff news. In: Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt, No. 3365/1874, 7 January 1874, p. 1, bottom left. (Online at ANNO ). .
- ↑ Holding website
- ↑ Dianabad closes at the end of October on ORF from January 20, 2020 accessed on January 21, 2020
Remarks
- ↑ The address Obere Donaustraße 81, which is sometimes assigned to the Dianabad (see for example: Vienna's sights. (...) Baths. In: Deutsche Zeitung , Morgenblatt, No. 553/1873, July 15, 1873, p. 13, top left. (Online at ANNO ). ) Should be based on a mix-up. From 1784 to 1888, the Bad Zum Weißen Wolfen, which was fed by the water from the Danube Canal, was located under orientation number 81 . - From: Gibs: Leopoldstadt - small world on the big river , p. 222.
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 49 ″ N , 16 ° 22 ′ 36 ″ E