Südbahnhotel
The Südbahnhotel is a former grand hotel on the Semmering Pass in Austria, which has existed since 1882, within sight of the railway passing the pass ( Austrian Southern Railway ).
Emergence
After the Südbahngesellschaft had completed its work on the railway in the 1870s , it turned to the construction of buildings along the areas served by the railway. The town of Semmering was easy to reach from Vienna thanks to the pioneering work of the Semmering Railway , a section of the southern railway line , and should now be expanded into a holiday and climatic health resort. In this context, the first of a series of railway hotels on the Südbahn was built here at exactly 1000 m above sea level . The style of the hotels of the Southern Railway Company initially followed a uniform scheme, they were planned by railway engineers. As a result, these buildings, whose main stylistic feature is the exposed brick facade, appear very sober on the outside and hardly show any decorative accessories. This sober appearance of the hotels only changed when independent, state-authorized architects were commissioned. As a result, the buildings were shaped by the new style of late historicism , which also came to bear in a large extension for the Südbahnhotel on Semmering (1901–1903).
The first Semmering hotel on the Südbahn
The planning of the hotel on Semmering began in 1880 on the initiative of Friedrich Julius Schüler , the general director of the Südbahngesellschaft , whereby the hotel, similar to the Grand Hotel Toblach and the construction of the Abbazia spa town (now Opatija ), which also began in the 1880s, " as kuk - Riviera “, additional sources of income should be developed for the southern railway company. In 1881 the land for the Hotel am Semmering was acquired, whereby the location should provide a unique panorama. The hotel should offer the guests every comfort and, through the construction of additional infrastructure and sports facilities, correspond to the amenities of today's all-inclusive resort .
The hotel was built within 14 months to a design by the in-house architect of the Südbahngesellschaft Wilhelm von Flattich (1826–1900), who had planned the Vienna Südbahnhof as early as 1873 and the Südbahnhotel in Toblach , now the Grand Hotel Toblach , in 1878 . Three floors with 60 guest rooms as well as bathing facilities, games, smoking and ladies' salons, a post and telegraph office and a restoration building, which contained a large dining room and utility rooms , were planned. In addition, there should also be an associated farmyard, stables for the horses, remises for the carriages and wagons and a washing facility near the hotel. The southern railway company built a road from the Semmering train station to the hotel, as well as the necessary water pipe. On July 15, 1882, the house was opened as planned. Vinzenz Panhans (1841–1905) was won as the first restaurant tenant . He had started his professional career as a chef at the Vienna Hotel Lamm and later became the fiercest competitor of the Südbahnhotel with his own house, the Hotel Panhans .
At the beginning, the Semmering lived from the myth of the Habsburgs , similar to Reichenau an der Rax before . Immediately after the opening of the First Semmering Hotel in 1882 and the associated villas, the highest circles of Viennese society, archdukes and ministers, even Empress Elisabeth, enjoyed the alpine summer freshness in the mountain air near Vienna. The visit of such important members of the high aristocracy was an important factor for the development of Semmering. But even then no hotel could survive from this audience alone. From the beginning, prominent hotels were therefore financially dependent on an audience from the new high finance, because this social class was much more generous than the traditional nobility. In the main season, all the houses on Semmering were fully booked. Numerous shops opened along the Hochstraße.
The Grandhotel Südbahn
The Semmering developed: after the construction of the Südbahnhotel, not only the villas, such as the Semmering villa colony, sprang up according to the guidelines of the cottage movement , but other hotels were also built. In 1888, Vinzenz Panhans opened his Hotel Panhans , and in 1909 the Kurhaus Semmering was completed.
Around 1900, the Südbahngesellschaft felt compelled to enlarge its hotel area on Wolfsbergkogel in accordance with the most modern guidelines of the international hotel business at the time. Probably because of the rivalry between the Panhans and Südbahnhotel was this also the large annex continue historicism, more specifically the Heimatstil loyal, with increased emphasis on the castle and romantic atmosphere, which enjoyed especially in conservative circles popular.
The Grand Hotel was visible from afar and soon became the landmark of the Semmering. When it was completed in 1903, the appearance of Alfred Wildhack and Robert Guido Elio, Freiherr v. Morpurgo planned the new Südbahnhotels in all areas in line with the notions of a "palace hotel", the most luxurious form of the upscale hotel category. A dominating tower staggered towards the middle, in which the main staircase was housed, under the roof of which there is a wooden walkway, was just as much a part of the architectural language of this wing as the two sheet metal onion domes, the covered chimneys and the complex roofscape covered with beaver tail. On the valley side, the central projections, the low main roof and the richly decorated wooden balconies shaped the image of this building section. The impression of a representative high altitude residence is quite intentional. Rural flair, on the other hand, is mainly achieved through rustic details, such as a base made of humpback blocks, wood-framed windows and half-timbering. This native style, inspired by traditional Alpine architecture, can also be found in the simpler ancillary buildings, such as the dairy.
In addition to these external characteristics, however, the presence of a high-ranking, sometimes aristocratic public, was the most important factor in a "palace hotel". In addition to the guests from the old, aristocratic circles, the new Südbahnhotel on Semmering also offered the new wealthy clientele an appropriate backdrop for self-expression. This took place in and around the hotel, yes it continued on the promenade. This had become the exterior common room of the house. What rank and name had in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was up to her to see, but above all to be seen.
In the house itself, the salons, such as the “red” salon, playroom and smoking room, offered the possibility of self-presentation and whoever walked the red sisal runners on the Bel Etage was, as it was said at the time, “either part of the cream of society - or room waiter… ”. The hotel manager Seibt, who came from Prussia, hovered over both groups: always accompanied by a small three-legged dog, described by contemporary witnesses as a “real mutt”, he not only commanded an army of employees, he also skilfully directed social matters among his guests. Omnipresent in Halle and Bel Etage, he kept the luxury entertainment machine running for a quarter of a century, avoided or encouraged the meeting of guests, arranged appearances and departures in the never-ending chain of fine actors.
The decor of the rooms was in no way inferior to the nobility of the guests. For the most part designed and manufactured by the art furniture studio Bothe und Ehrmann, K. uk court purveyors, Vienna I / Agram , the interior of hardly one room was exactly like the other. Nevertheless, a certain uniformity in the light, oak-veneered and cherry-colored furniture was intended. The subtle differences resulted from the detail, the pattern of the inlays, the strips and shapes. There were, for example, glass-topped mirror tables with square or oval mirrors, wider or narrower, regular desks, etc. Fine carpets covered the parquet. Luxurious washrooms and bathrooms were already a matter of course in the SH from 1903.
After minor additions and renovations in 1908, a restoration wing, also planned by the two architects Wildhack and Morpurgo, was added in 1912/13, the “wing of the large halls” (dining room, green salon, yellow salon, library , Waldhof hall, beer parlor and cinema hall ) with its wooden grate-covered terrace decks should be reminiscent of ship architecture. This went so far that the movable awning of the terrace in front of the Waldhofsaal embodied stylized ship davits. A vestibule on the ground floor led to the dining room, richly decorated with stucco, which had an alcove with a stage on the front as an eye-catcher, on which a concert grand piano specially made for this hall was enthroned. In addition to the three huge main chandeliers designed with ancient Egyptian motifs, innumerable ceiling lamps with cut lead crystal glasses and gilded brass sheet frames on a wooden panel provided on the arches spanning the pillars. To the side of the dining room is the green salon, through which you can get to the much smaller yellow salon. Both rooms are only partially in their original condition; in the green salon, which has been modernized several times, the missing rear-ventilated brass rosettes for the chandeliers are particularly noticeable. They were replaced by stucco elements. The green salon also leads to a large open terrace, which also forms the roof of the post and telegraph office, which is now integrated into the SH. Above the dining room - and accessible from the vestibule via a side staircase called "Waldhofstiege" - there is a breakfast room, which was also used as a ballroom, the Waldhofsaal, from which one can walk over a bridge arch spanning the street and an adjoining bridge to the Part of the underground passage to the “Waldhof” dependance built in 1901. Access to the Waldhofsaal and the associated terrace was also possible from the room wing via a large staircase that ran from the post wing to the top terrace, the "promenade" above the Waldhofsaal. Next to it and separated from the hall by a glass door is the library, which, in addition to stretched fabric wallpapers, also had an interesting radiator panel. It consisted of interlocking square brass plates, which, strictly geometrically and objectively executed, contrasted the historic ambience of the room with a modern detail.
In general, although still clearly stuck in historicism, motifs of floral and occasionally ornamental Art Nouveau can be found in the wing from 1912. Seldom, however, are there strictly geometric details that already point towards modernity. In terms of the design of the outer skin, this construction phase has remained true to the historicist concept, apart from the striking roof terraces. It is precisely this mixture of styles that makes the ensemble so unique and has gone down in art history as the “Semmering style”.
Also in the wing from 1912 was the servants wing, which is now mostly gutted, with the 12 meter high kitchen and its ancillary rooms. Just like the halls, it had an ingenious ventilation system, not unlike the theater buildings of the turn of the century, which had outlets into the building that were sucked in via large fan houses in the roof structure, in the rooms accessible to the guests in the stucco and in lamp rosettes brought or removed the used air. Below the kitchen is the so-called Bierstüberl, an area with richly painted false vaults, columns and a pseudo-rustic wood-paneled adjoining room, which had its own entrance and its own small kitchen. There was also a large hall on this level that was used as a movie theater.
The wing from 1912/13 embodied the lavish luxury of the time with ease and made the Südbahnhotel one of, if not the, leading establishment in Central and Eastern Europe.
Franz Panhans, the son of Vinzenz Panhans, who died in 1905, commissioned the architects Ferdinand Fellner & Hermann Helmer in 1912 to enlarge his Hotel Panhans with a 128-meter-long extension. After the completion of the new Grand Hotel wing in 1913, the Panhans, with 400 rooms, was one of the largest hotels in Central Europe. At least that's what people spoke of the largest house on the continent.
In the garden design, the Südbahngesellschaft oriented itself towards English ideals by combining the surrounding landscape into a monumental park and enriching it with additional buildings, such as a " dairy ". This park was built mainly for viewing, but it was also intended to create a romantic atmosphere. It is difficult to reconstruct the appearance of this garden at that time. The only thing that is certain is that the park was designed symmetrically with flower beds and that the center of the garden was accentuated by an oval. In front of the "Waldhof" branch, a small alpine garden completed this special place.
In winter, the entire park of the Südbahnhotel was transformed into a huge sports paradise with the hotel's own ski slopes and ice rinks, which could be reached by tobogganing. There was also a bobsleigh and skeleton run and a 2,000 m long natural toboggan run . This led from the Pinkenkogel to the hotel. The Südbahnhotel also had its own ski jump on the ski slope of the hotel's own golf course. This spacious sports facility and the favorable snow conditions made Semmering the most important winter sports destination in Austria. Especially in the interwar period, the FIS competitions attracted thousands of sports enthusiasts to the Semmering.
As soon as winter and motor sports had developed on Semmering and around the Südbahnhotel, summer sports also appeared. If the meadows were used for skiing in winter, they are transformed into a unique golf course in summer. The fact that a golf tee that goes deep into the valley was converted into a ski jump in winter is certainly curious.
The Südbahnhotel in the interwar period
In the inter-war period, almost all of the existing hotels on Semmering were renovated and expanded. The hotels were continuously modernized and their infrastructure adapted to the latest technology. One of the most important construction projects of the Südbahnhotel was the car garage designed by Emil Hoppe and Otto Schönthal in 1929 with 46 boxes, some of which can be heated, as well as a workshop, a heated washroom, gas station and comfortable chauffeur rooms. However, the completed first part of the garage was demolished in 1982 and replaced by a residential complex.
After the garage was built, plans began in 1932 to widen and redesign the old hotel entrance area. The new entrance area, also designed by the Otto Wagner students Hoppe and Schönthal, which was placed in front of the former small hotel entrance from 1903 on one floor in 1934, has since enveloped the striking tower base. The dominant tower of the main staircase, the foot of which is now covered by the masonry of the entrance area, significantly changed its effect. This new, modern impression is reinforced by a cantilevered canopy in front. The foyer can now be entered through a revolving door, on the highest point of which a square nickel-framed clock is attached in the middle. Afterwards there are two telephone booths integrated into the rosewood veneered wooden structure, as well as the reception and concierge . Also integrated in the back of the foyer and only recognizable to the visitor at second glance was a second elevator, which was destroyed in the course of the renovation work in the early 1990s. The foyer is illuminated by three nickel-framed frosted glass light strips embedded in the ceiling . The room is structured by square columns, the two linoleum-covered desks of the reception and the revolving door with the two side doors. The revolving door established itself at that time as an essential feature of a grand hotel. It is the connecting element between inside and outside at the same time as a control point that could be operated by a liveried page . In the case of the Südbahnhotel, this page was easy to recognize by his trademark, the plate cap with the inscription "Südbahnhotel", which was carried diagonally on the head by a light brown leather strap.
Most of the bar's original furnishings from the 1930s are still there today, albeit in a different condition due to the effects of time. The eye-catching details of the café belonging to the bar are a glass dome light and a multi-colored glass window. But the room, which actually consists of three styles, still shows the cool elegance of this era with its dark wood paneling, pillars and the small square tables covered with beige marmorite.
The most important work of modernism on Semmering is the indoor swimming pool of the Südbahnhotel , built in 1932 by the Wagner students and leading architects of Austrian New Objectivity , Emil Hoppe and Otto Schönthal . The simplicity of the indoor swimming pool, which was highly topical at the time, is particularly evident on the exterior fronts, which consist of movable glass transom windows. These lie between the load-bearing pillars, which are covered with yellow marble slabs on the inside. The bathing hall itself was also equipped with a two-tone marmorite cladding in strips. It was the main color white with narrow, orange-red stripes. The partially preserved original seating was based on this color concept. It was designed clearly and functionally by the architects themselves, made of orange-red painted tubular steel with wooden slats and fabric backs. Nickel-plated lighting fixtures, each with four approximately 50 cm long electric candles on three levels made of square tubing, completed the business-like, modern ambience. The two architects, who, along with Marcel Kammerer , are counted among the innermost circle of Otto Wagner's students, placed their names in 5 cm high and 5 mm raised nickel letters in the passage from the main building to the bathing hall. Two years later, they also used the same letters to label the pillars in the foyer, which were an eye-catcher for those entering and were intended to inform them of the activities that could be carried out during their stay.
The Südbahnhotel since 1938
With the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938 a period of decline began.
In April 1945 the area around the hotel was the scene of fierce fighting between the later German 9th Mountain Division (East) and the Red Army , which tried to penetrate into Styria via the Semmering Pass. The Südbahnhotel was temporarily used by the German Wehrmacht as a command post. Particularly loss-making fights raged over the hotel's laundry and dairy farm. Both building complexes were occupied by the advancing Soviet soldiers at the beginning of April and then recaptured in several counter-attacks, in which numerous soldiers on both sides were killed, by alarm units that were combined in the German 9th Mountain Division at the beginning of May.
After the end of the war, operations were resumed, but there were no major business successes. The Südbahnhotel no longer met the changed requirements in tourism. In the 1960s, the company was gradually shut down.
At the end of the sixties, the Austrian property developer Siegfried Alexander Petritz took over the Südbahnhotel Semmering with all the properties belonging to it. After the first hotel building was converted into a condominium complex in 1974, almost nothing of the original furnishings of the Semmering Hotel from 1882 has survived. Only the facade, the ornamental mosaic floor in the vestibule and the wooden staircase in the axial center of the building with the floral cast iron railing and the wooden handrail have largely been preserved and go back to the time of construction in 1882. As part of this division, the "Waldhof" annex that was created in 1901 was converted into an apartment house, in keeping with the zeitgeist of the time.
Gradually, the golf course with the dairy, the branch next to the Kurhaus, the grounds of the former garage and the old laundry were separated. The property of the hotel and thus also the building itself have been owned by the Bavarian Clinic , which operates rehabilitation clinics, since 1994 . But they are not used intensively. The main building and the restoration wing from 1912/13 are empty after a partial renovation by the German owner in the early 1990s, which mainly affected the roof landscape and parts of the building services. The Festival Reichenau recorded from 2000 to 2010 the building, which actually resembles, with its relatively few remaining in the main building rooms and many halls more like a theater than a hotel, during the summer months.
In summer 2006 the Südbahnhotel was to be sold to a Liechtenstein investor group. So far there have been no recognizable perspectives or measures. The doors of the Südbahnhotel remained locked until summer 2017. Only since this season has the Kultur.Sommer.Semmering been allowed to fill the Südbahnhotel with life again as a dreamy nostalgic backdrop.
literature
- Desiree Vasko-Juhasz: The Southern Railway. Your health resorts and hotels . Böhlau, Vienna a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-205-77404-3 , ( Semmering Architecture 1).
- Guido Friedl: The architect Wilhelm von Flattich (1826–1900) . Association of Austrian Scientific Societies VWGÖ, Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-85369-396-2 , ( Dissertations of the University of Vienna 141), (At the same time: Vienna, Univ., Diss., 1973).
- Südbahnhotel. On the magic mountain of absence. Photographs by Yvonne Oswald. Jewish Museum Vienna, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ Architecture Lexicon Alfred Wildhack
- ^ Journal of the Troops Service of the Austrian Armed Forces Issue 5/2003: Semmering, April 1945 - The battles for the southern railway dairy , author Friedrich Brettner
- ↑ official land register of the cadastral community 23124 Kurort Semmering, district court Neunkirchen, deposit number 629: Klinik Bavaria Rudolf Presl GmbH. (accessed July 26, 2020).
- ↑ Festival program Südbahnhotel Semmering
- ^ Report on the sale of the hotel.
- ↑ http://www.kultursommer-semmering.at/suedbahnhotel
Remarks
- ↑ The foundation stone was laid on May 29, 1881. - See: From the area. (...) Semmering Hotel. In: Badener Bezirks-Blatt , No. 23/1881 (Volume I), June 4, 1881, p. 5, top right (online at ANNO ). .
- ↑ The hotel itself applied for 300 rooms in 1914. - See: Südbahnhotel Semmering. In: Wiener Zeitung , No. 28/1914, February 5, 1914, p. 12. (Online at ANNO ). .
Web links
- zkl: On the Wolfsberg. In: Local-Anzeiger der "Presse" , supplement to No. 194/1882 (XXXV. Year), July 16, 1882, p. 13 f. (Online at ANNO ).
- View of the Südbahnhotel on aeiou
- Emil Hoppe. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.
- Otto Schonthal. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.
Coordinates: 47 ° 38 ′ 50 ″ N , 15 ° 49 ′ 48 ″ E