Palais Ferstel
The Palais Ferstel is a building in Vienna's 1st district , Innere Stadt , with the addresses Strauchgasse 2–4, Herrengasse 14 and Freyung 2. It was built as a national bank and stock exchange building; the designation as a palace is unhistorical.
history
In 1855 the entire property between Freyung , Strauchgasse and Herrengasse was sold by Franz Xaver Reichsgraf von Abensperg and Traun to the Austrian National Bank , a privileged kk . This bank was previously domiciled at Herrengasse 17 / Bankgasse 1. The advancing industrialization and the associated economic expansion also brought about a rapid development of money transactions and banking, so that the previous premises were soon no longer sufficient. This problem could only be solved by a new building in which a trading hall was to be housed.
According to the wish of the then governor of the National Bank, Franz von Pipitz, the new building should be carried out with strict attention to economy and avoiding worthless luxury with solidity and artistic and technical perfection . The building should accommodate the National Bank, the stock exchange , a coffee house and - a new idea for Vienna - a bazaar .
The commissioned architect, Heinrich von Ferstel , proved his ability to cope with the irregular building area with the most favorable use of space, which is state of the art. The practical requirements combine with the actual artistic requirements to create a masterful composition. Ferstel knew how to lay out the central bank's rooms , the two stock exchange halls, the passage with the bazaar and the coffee house according to their intended purpose, while maintaining a uniform style.
He was an advocate of "material construction", as it is clearly expressed in the ashlar construction of the bank. The base, pillars and stairs were made from Wöllersdorf stone , facade parts such as balconies, cornices, structures and stone railings were made from the hard, white Kaiserstein from Kaisersteinbruch , while the wall surfaces were made from St. Margarethen sand-lime stone . The interiors were very elaborately furnished, with wood paneling, leather wallpaper, stucco and rich ornamental painting. The balustrades show sophisticated stone carvings, the corners are crowned by turrets.
The facade of the corner front Strauchgasse / Herrengasse received twelve sculptures by Hanns Gasser as decoration, they symbolized the peoples of the monarchy. The mighty round arches at the exit to Freyung were closed with wrought iron gates; Since the locksmith first called in could not meet Ferstel's demands, the work was entrusted to a silversmith.
In 1860 the building of the National Bank and Stock Exchange, completed in 1859, was ready for occupation. In the following year, the Danube Mermaid Fountain was installed in the glass-covered passage , the design of which was also by Ferstel. Anton von Fernkorn created the plastic jewelry with artistic empathy. A column rises above the marble fountain basin, crowned by a bronze figure, the female Danube with flowing hair, who is holding a fish in her hand. Below that, around the column, there are three figures, also cast from bronze: merchant, fisherman and shipbuilder, i.e. those professions that have to do with water. The total cost of the building, including the interior fittings, amounted to the enormous sum of 1,897,600 guilders .
The originally planned use of the building was only preserved for a few years. The stock exchange was no longer sufficient with the premises: in 1872 it moved to a temporary facility, in 1877 a new stock exchange building was opened on Schottenring (today known as the old stock exchange). The National Bank operated as the Austrian-Hungarian Bank from 1878 to 1922, and in 1925 relocated to a spacious new building planned as early as 1913.
During the Second World War , the building was badly damaged, especially on the main facade, during the air raids on Vienna . In the 1960s there was a basketball training hall in the former stock exchange hall ; the whole building looked badly neglected.
In 1971 the President of the Federal Monuments Office , Walter Frodl , dealt with . with the badly war-damaged bank and stock exchange building in Vienna. The Office of Technical Geology of Otto Casensky prepared a report on the natural stone façade on the facade Freyung 2 was originally a over the entire 15.4 m long front balcony attached from hard Kaiserstein. This balcony was no longer there, and the remains of the step plates and the supporting brackets were only barely visible on the facade . In July 1975 the balcony was reconstructed and master stonemason Friedrich Opferkuh from Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge was commissioned to restore the old condition - made of Mannersdorfer stone, reinforced concrete and artificial stone .
1975–1982 the building was renovated and the Café Central reopened. Since then, the privately owned building has been called the Palais Ferstel. Conferences and presentations are now taking place in the former stock exchange halls. Café Central uses one of the inner courtyards, but has its main rooms at the corner of Herrengasse and Strauchgasse.
The building is currently owned by a foundation left by Karl Wlaschek in 2015 .
The architectural motif of the corner construction of the Viennese Palais Ferstel used the two Berlin architects Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden in which in the years 1877-1880 in the style of Neo-Renaissance built with echoes of the Florentine Early Renaissance building of the Royal Prussian Mining Headquarters in St. Johann (Saar ) , today Saarbrücken .
literature
- Hertha Wohlrab: The Freyung . Zsolnay, Vienna 1971.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Allgemeine Bauzeitung, 1860, p. 1.
- ^ "Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation" , Vienna 1971, issue 1/2
- ^ Photo archive of the Federal Monuments Office
- ^ Karl Wlaschek's real estate in the first district of Vienna , in: Falter (weekly newspaper) , No. 33/2015, August 12, 2015, p. 16
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 '38 " N , 16 ° 21' 56" E