Otto Wagner Square
| Otto Wagner Square | |
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| Basic data | |
| place | Vienna |
| District | Alsergrund (9th district) |
| Created | 1925 |
| Confluent streets | Alser Strasse , Frankhplatz , Haulerstrasse, Alfred-Grünfeld-Gasse |
| Buildings | National Bank of Austria |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrians , bicycle traffic , car traffic |
| Space design | park |
| Technical specifications | |
| Square area | approx. 20 100 m² |
The Otto-Wagner-Platz is located in the 9th district of Vienna , the Alsergrund , the Austrian federal capital Vienna . It has been named after the architect Otto Wagner , whose Art Nouveau buildings shape the cityscape of Vienna since 1925 . The square is best known as the address of the Austrian National Bank .
history
The area of Otto-Wagner-Platz belonged to the formerly independent Alservorstadt . The landscape academy of the Lower Austrian Estates, which was built from 1685 and completed in 1689, was located here, consisting of a main building, living rooms, a chapel, rooms for physical exercises, a riding hall and stables for 40 horses as well as a garden. The institute was attended by pupils from the most prestigious circles in Austria. In 1730 the building received a new facade.
After the academy was closed in 1749 and sold to the court chamber in 1751, the estate landscape academy was demolished and the Alser barracks built in its place by 1753 . This covered about 27,000 m² and consisted of one large and six smaller courtyards; the buildings had three floors. It was occupied by parts of the Baron Kheilyschen infantry regiment and held about 6000 men. In the barracks there was a military vehicle depot, a riding school, Catholic and Protestant garrison bands and a military hospital. Immediately in front of the barracks was the vacant glacis that was used for drills. In 1850, the Alservorstadt was incorporated into Vienna and the former glacis was largely built. In 1909 the City of Vienna took over the building and tore it down in 1912.
In 1913, planning began for the construction of the Austrian National Bank building, but it was not realized in the dimensions originally planned.
Location and characteristics
Otto-Wagner-Platz is located north of Alser Straße between the monumental building of the Old General Hospital in the west and Alfred-Grünfeld-Gasse, Haulerstraße and Frankhplatz in the east. Only here on the eastern edge can the square be used by cars. The new Frankhplatz underground station on the U5 line, which is currently under construction, will be built under Frankhplatz by around 2025 .
The area of the square is predominantly taken up by the green area of Ostarrichi Park. There is an underground car park underneath . Public transport runs on the neighboring Alser Straße.
The building consists on the one hand of the old baroque AKH and on the other hand of office buildings from the 20th century.
On the western edge of the square there used to be Thavonatgasse, directly adjacent to the Old General Hospital. She is mentioned here .
Buildings
Ostarrichi Park
The Ostarrichi-Park in the center of Otto-Wagner-Platz has an area of about 6000 m². It consists largely of open meadow space, only at the edges there are a few trees and bushes that are supposed to hide the access to the underground car park below. Flowers are planted on the southern edge. There are some benches on the sidewalks that cross the lawn.
The park, which was laid out in 1925, was redesigned in 1979 and named Ostarrichi Park in 1996 on the occasion of Austria's millennium. This refers to the oldest traditional form of the name in Austria, Ostarrichi .
No. 3: Austrian National Bank
After the former Alser barracks were demolished in 1912, Leopold Bauer , a student of Otto Wagner, began planning and building the building in 1913. An elongated building with a tower-like structure in high-rise style was planned, which was to be connected by a bridge to a second building that was planned for the banknote printing plant. The ambitious project was interrupted by the First World War, so that it could only be continued again in 1918, but now in a simplified form. The architects Ferdinand Glaser and Rudolf Eisler took on this task and used the already existing shell of the printing house for the National Bank alone, while the originally planned bank building was completely painted. The project was completed by 1925. This is the last major neoclassical monumental building in Vienna. It still serves as the seat of the Austrian National Bank today.
After the National Bank was dissolved in 1938, the court of the 2nd Panzer Division moved into the building. Light anti-aircraft cannons were placed on the roof to protect the property. After the Second World War this was the headquarters of the American occupying forces (Headquarters United States Forces in Austria - USFA - Vienna Command).
In 1979 a fire caused great damage to the building. Carl Appel carried out the adaptation work, after which the offices were able to move in again in 1984. Wilhelm Holzbauer carried out a neighboring extension for the main building, which had meanwhile become too small.
The representative building has a facade structured by mighty pillars. The windows step back clearly behind it. The portal is crowned with figural decorations by Othmar Schimkowitz . It shows an old bearded man, the god of agriculture, the god of trade, the goddess of luck in the middle, a female figure, a youth with a palm tree and a Roman warrior. Putti and garlands frame the portal. There are also other relief figures and bronze plates with figurative representations on the facade.
The building also houses the Money Museum , with a collection and documentation of historical banknotes, coins and securities.
Main building of the Austrian National Bank
Portal by Othmar Schimkowitz
Relief on the facade
Bronze relief by Oskar Thiede
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No. 4-4a: residential building
The house was built in 1950 by the architects Erich Boltenstern and Eugen Wachberger . There is a police station in the building.
No. 5: Financial Market Authority
The office building was built between 1928 and 1929 by Ernst Epstein for the Phoenix Insurance Company. From 1957 to 1958, Carl Appel adapted the house by adding several meeting rooms to the general management of OMV ; since 2011 it has been the seat of the financial market supervisory authority . The six-storey building on an irregular floor plan has a striking stepped cornice and a risalit protruding far towards Frankhplatz .
literature
- Felix Czeike (Ed.): Otto-Wagner-Platz. In: Historisches Lexikon Wien . Volume 4, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-218-00546-9 , p. 476 ( digitized version ).
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 57.1 ″ N , 16 ° 21 ′ 16.5 ″ E