Hotel Weinzinger
The Hotel Weinzinger , formerly the Hotel Erzherzog Karl, was a hotel on the Linzer Donaulände near Adalbert-Stifter-Platz that had existed since the 1840s and went down in history in 1938, as Adolf Hitler signed the law on the “ Anschluss of Austria ” here. In 1962 it was demolished for the construction of a new office high-rise for Generali-Versicherung .
history
In 1840 the fishmonger and innkeeper Bartholomäus Kogler bought the property on the Donaulände to build an inn there. This three-story elegant Biedermeier building was opened in 1842. In 1843 he was granted the request to use the title of Gasthof Erzherzog Karl . It soon became the leading hotel in Linz, where many aristocratic personalities stayed; Archduke Karl himself lived here in 1847. After Kogler's death Josef Bauer took over the inn, in 1877 the internationally successful hotelier Karl Marschner bought it, who renamed the inn the Hotel Erzherzog Karl . He was the first in Linz to offer guests an omnibus to the train station. When Marschner retired, the Viennese wood industrialist Josef Weinzinger bought the hotel together with his brother-in-law, the Gmunden casino restaurateur Viktor Toth.
In 1908 Weinzinger and Toth made the decision to replace the old house with a new building. The new hotel was built between 1912 and 1914 according to plans by the Viennese architects Karl Scheffel and Hans Glaser , executed by the Linz city architect Gustav Steinberger , as a modern, magnificent landmark for Linz on the Danube and opened as the Hotel Weinzinger in 1914. For that time it had all the comforts of a luxury hotel including a passenger lift. After Toth left the company, Josef Weinzinger ran the hotel with his son Ernst Weinzinger.
After financial difficulties caused by the First World War, the hotel was again fully booked with pleasure travelers from 1921. In 1922 an American bar was added according to plans by the Brno architect G. Czermak . Otto Maria Weinzinger, hotel manager in Philadelphia and New York, the youngest son of Josef Weinzinger, was entrusted with running the company; also in 1927 the third son Edi Weinzinger. The Hotel Weinzinger was always the first hotel on the square in Linz.
During National Socialism, the house was expropriated after violent threats and only about a fifth of the normal value was paid to the Weinzingers, as it should have given way to a planned "Führer Hotel" as part of the monumental construction on the banks of the Danube in Linz. After the war, the Weinzinger family was only able to get the house back after a long process, as the city of Linz insisted on the legitimacy of expropriation.
In 1962 the hotel building was demolished and the Generali-Versicherung office tower was built at this point.
Furnishing
In the hotel brochure from the 1920s you can read:
THE HOTEL WEINZINGER - Archduke Karl
Noble house of the first order - most modern comfort - 114 rooms - bathrooms central heating - excellent cuisine first class drinks - restaurant gardens - garage - bus - American bar
114 room salons - apartments, single rooms with private bathroom, people and luggage lift, central heating, most rooms with balcony, lounges, terraces, restaurant gardens, car garage, boxes, bus to every train
Single rooms from S 4, two-bed rooms from S 7 upwards. Reduced prices for longer stays
From the hotel's observation tower, there is a wonderful panoramic view of the Danube Valley and the Alps
In the operation of the Hotel BOSTON BAR. Elegant, cozy restaurant with modern room culture, music and modern dances. Most distinguished stay in the city. Open daily from 9 p.m. Excellent soft drinks, own pastry shop. Reserved tables for hotel guests
Guests
Adolf Hitler was a guest at the Hotel Weinzinger several times, most recently from March 12th to 14th, 1938. Here on March 13th, 1938 he signed the law on the “ connection of Austria ” to the German Reich.
literature
- Almanac of the Hotel Weinzinger formerly Archduke Karl. Linz 1927. ( digital ).
Web links
- The “connection” in the virtual museum Upper Austria, accessed on June 19, 2017.
- Linz culture, monuments
Individual evidence
- ^ Roman Sandgruber : Robbery and Forced Labor. , OÖN from July 11, 2009.
- ↑ City history of Linz: Generali building , accessed on June 3, 2020
Coordinates: 48 ° 18 ′ 26.2 ″ N , 14 ° 17 ′ 15 ″ E