Front house
The front house was a prestige and representative building of the Fatherland Front planned by Clemens Holzmeister and begun in 1937, but ultimately not completed, as the end of the Minoritenplatz and Ballhausplatz in Vienna .
background
The construction of a general administrative and representative building of the Fatherland Front was justified by the buildings in related political systems (such as the fascist party buildings in Italy or the Reich Chancellery in Berlin) and was intended as a prestige project to legitimize and represent the regime of the corporate state near the Federal Chancellery be erected. The design of the square fell far short of the dimensions of the planned buildings in Rome and Berlin.
The front house was supposed to bring together the sub-associations ("VF-Werke") Österreichisches Jungvolk (ÖJV) and Neues Leben (NL, the cultural leisure organization of the Fatherland Front) as well as the general secretariat under one roof. The invitation to tender for a public competition by the Central Association of Architects in Austria was rejected by the Fatherland Front and the central decision for the project was carried out on its own. Clemens Holzmeister was entrusted with the planning and implementation.
architecture
The front building should close the Minoritenplatz and adapt to the building height, dimensions and design language of the flanking buildings of the Federal Chancellery and Hofburg. Only the central projection to Ballhausplatz with the monumental main entrance was planned to be six meters higher. This symbolic center of the building was designed with small balconies in front of nine main windows of the representation rooms. The coats of arms of the federal states should be attached to the balconies. A monumental frieze under the cornice was to be decorated with a stone cross and the double-headed eagle with the national coat of arms in bronze. The symbols of the eight stands (professional groups) should be placed on the sides of the central risalit. In addition to the main entrance from Ballhausplatz, two generously designed monumental side entrances were planned.
A meeting room for 600 to 800 people and further representation and meeting rooms were to be built inside the front building.
On a floor area of 3600 m², 2200 m² are to be built, the building should have two floors below and five above ground, the cubature totaling 118,000 m³.
financing
By a federal law of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the building plots were transferred to the property of the Fatherland Front. The building itself should, however, belong to the federal government, thus saving previous rental costs in other administrative buildings, which was propagated as a saving effect.
The financing should mainly be achieved through a donation collection in the so-called front labor victim . Donating was not entirely voluntary: people who refused to donate and companies who donated only small amounts were reprimanded. In some cases, individual unwilling to pay were marked on the donation lists of companies and in some cases the companies sent overall donation lists that concealed the contributions of individuals.
In April 1937 total costs of 8,470,000 schillings were estimated for the construction of the building, compared to income of 430,000 schillings from the front-line labor victims in July 1937. A lottery specially initiated for the construction of the front house was supposed to bring in additional money. A general fundraiser should enable the building through what appears to be a mass base, thus creating an emotional bond. It also hid the poor financial situation of the Fatherland Front.
Laying of the foundation stone
The cornerstone was laid on July 24, 1937 by Front Leader Chancellor Doctor Kurt Schuschnigg . The monumental foundation stone (2200 kg) consisted of Poschach granite from the Plöcking plant ; the calf parchment certificate was inscribed by the architect Otto Hurm . Cassettes with 2 to 3 kg of earth from places that are important for the Austrian identity, symbolically and ideologically occupied, were sunk into the foundation stone. The earth came from Haydn's grave in Eisenstadt, the Herzogstuhl in Maria Saal, the Dollfuss birthplace in Lower Austria, the Linz country house , the Hohensalzburg fortress , the Schloßberg tower in Graz, the Andreas Hofer monument on Bergisel, the Pfaender summit in Vorarlberg, as well the Kahlenberg and the Dollfuss grave at the Hietzingen cemetery . The laying of the foundation stone turned into a propaganda event due to the mass march of the sub-organizations of the Fatherland Front.
execution
The excavation work began on August 19, 1937. When recruiting the workforce, attention was paid to their political views, communists and social democrats should not have any insight into the construction plans, as acts of sabotage were feared. The shell had progressed to the basement when it was postponed by the Nazi administration after the Anschluss in 1938. In 1939, under Nazi administration, it was planned to continue the construction site as a building for the Reichsnährstand of the Donauland rural farming community.
Current situation
The federal office building Ballhausplatz 3 was erected on the site from 1982 to 1986, designed by the architects Alexander Marchart and Roland Moebius . It has the addresses Minoritenplatz 9 / Bruno-Kreisky-Gasse 1 / Schauflergasse 8 and its main entrance is on Minoritenplatz.
source
- Andreas Suttner : Black Vienna. Construction activity in the corporate state 1934–1938 . Böhlau, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-205-20292-9 , pp. 188–192 ( oapen.org [accessed February 15, 2019]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Start of work at the front house in the sign of peace. In: Neues Wiener Journal , August 20, 1937, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).
- ^ Radio Vienna, program Saturday July 24th. In: Neues Wiener Journal , July 23, 1937, p. 16 (online at ANNO ).
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 30.8 ″ N , 16 ° 21 ′ 52.2 ″ E