Sofiensaal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The main façade of the original Sofiensaal and the new building behind it
Sofiensäle, restored main hall

Sofiensäle , also Sophiensäle , is the name of a Viennese building or its event space in Marxergasse 17 in the 3rd district , Landstrasse . The historical name was mostly Sophienbad-Saal before the extension in 1886 . Most of the Sofiensäle burned down in 2001. Only the load-bearing walls were left standing as a fire ruin. From 2011 to 2013, the historic hall and the main portal were restored in secessionist style (both listed ), and the building surrounding the hall was rebuilt as a residential building and hotel.

history

Balthasar Wigand: Sofienbad 1838
Sofienbad around 1850, lithograph F. Kalivoda

19th century

In 1838, a Russian steam bath was built by Franz Morawetz (1789–1868) immediately to the left of the current location of the later Sofiensäle . In the years 1845–1847, a swimming pool, the Sophienbad , was built at the current location according to plans by architects Eduard van der Nüll and August Sicard von Sicardsburg .

The large hall of the Sophienbad (13.6 × 38 m, at that time the largest public bar in Vienna) was used as a swimming pool in summer and as a dance, concert and assembly hall in winter under the name Sophienbad-Saal. For this purpose, the swimming pool was covered with wooden boards and the cavity (swimming pool) below gave it excellent acoustics. According to Czeike, the capacity was 2,000 for concerts, 2,300 for balls and 2,700 people for meetings.

The bath was named after Archduchess Sophie (1805–1872), the sister-in-law of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and mother of Franz Joseph I , who took over the government from him on December 2, 1848. The opening of the Sophienbad-Saal took place with a festival ball in favor of a children's hospital on January 12th, 1848. It conducted Johann Strauss (father) .

From January 16, 1850 with the world premiere of the waltz Frohsinns-Spenden (op.73) to February 10, 1896 with the world premiere of the Schnellpolka Klipp-Klapp (op.465) based on motifs from his operetta Waldmeister , Johann Strauss (son) has almost 100 of his works - waltzes , polkas and quadrilles - were launched in the Sofiensaal.

In 1870, 1886 and 1899 there were modifications and redesigns. In 1886, a second, smaller hall was added to the left of the main house, which was later called the "Blue Salon". The term “Sofiensäle” has been in use since then. In 1898/1899 the main facade was rebuilt in the secessionist style by architect Ernst Gotthilf-Miskolczy .

20th century

View along Marxergasse to the Sofiensäle, around 1900

The bathing operation was stopped in 1909, the Tröpferlbad could no longer compete with the more modern bathing establishments and the open-air baths that were being built at the time .

On March 22, 1912, eight days before his death , Karl May gave his last two-hour public lecture, "Up into the realm of noble men", as a guest of the Vienna Academic Association for Literature and Music in the Sofiensaal in front of about 2,000 listeners. one of his most famous speeches. The audience includes Georg Trakl , Karl Kraus , Heinrich Mann , Bertha von Suttner and Adolf Hitler .

In September 1913, films accompanied by spoken sound were presented for the first time in Vienna under the title “Talking Film” ( Edison Kinetophon and Gaumont screenings) in the Sofiensaal. For various reasons, such as the limited supply on the film market and problems with the synchronicity of image and sound, these screenings were soon discontinued.

The Sofiensäle, however, are also associated with dark chapters in Viennese history: Richard Suchwirth founded the NSDAP in Austria in a meeting there on May 4, 1926 . From 1938 the Sofiensäle were used as a collection point for Jews destined for deportation .

On June 15, 1946, the Vienna premiere of the operetta Mask in Blue by the Viennese composer Fred Raymond took place here, which was premiered in Berlin in 1937 .

In 1948, the original ceiling construction was exposed during a restoration by the architect Carl Appel . The artist Konrad Honold designed the wall surfaces in the foyer area.

In the 1950s, the record producer Decca installed the most modern recording studio in Europe in this building, in which recordings were made with the Vienna Philharmonic until the 1970s. Until the 1980s, the Sofiensäle were a popular venue for balls such as B. the traditional, annual Elmayer-Kränzchen as well as for the ÖKISTA-Gschnas (ÖKISTA = Austrian Committee for International Student Exchange). In the 1990s, the Sofiensäle were used for clubbing (e.g. Wickie, Slime & Paiper ), exhibitions of the Wiener Festwochen and various events.

Since 1986 there were plans to demolish the listed Sofiensäle and to build a hotel in their place.

21st century

Side view of the ruin
Sofiensäle, ruins (back side)
Sofiensaal ruin from above at Marxergasse 24
Sofiensaal new building 2012

On August 16, 2001, the Sofiensaal was badly damaged by fire . The trigger was scarfing work on the roof structure , which ignited the wooden roof structure . The halls burned down completely, the roof structure collapsed. Remains of the outer walls, the foyer and three side walls of the great hall remained as a fire ruin .

The Sofiensäle were under monument protection , including the fire ruins, which is why the demolition of the Federal Monuments Office was not permitted. The owner was planning to build a hotel and therefore wanted the fire ruin to be completely demolished, as the integration of the facade parts into the new hotel would not have been economical or feasible, according to the owner. The dispute between the owner and the Federal Monuments Office occupied the judiciary.

On January 27, 2006, the real estate company ARWAG, which is closely related to the city of Vienna , acquired the 12,000 square meter property including the fire ruins and promised a renovation in accordance with listed buildings. In July 2008 it was decided that the Sofiensäle should be converted into a hotel. The listed hall and the staircase should be renovated and integrated into the hotel. In August 2009 it became known that the plans to convert it into a hotel had been abandoned due to a lack of interested parties.

On the ninth anniversary of the fire in August 2010, the citizens' initiative Rettet die Sofiensäle renewed their call for a cultural center to be built, as Vienna urgently needs this centrally located, multifunctional venue. The Johann Strauss Center for Classical Music, which was brought into play in 2004, should also be established in the Sofiensaal.

New building, opened in 2013

The next owner, IFA AG, a subsidiary of the Soravia Group , managed to combine monument protection and new uses from 2010 onwards. According to the client, the new building, which required 50 million euros and consists of 47 subsidized and 21 privately financed apartments, the large hall and the historic main facade, as well as a restaurant (since February 2014), hotel and fitness center (both since March 2014) and 125 underground parking spaces, was Built by architect Albert Wimmer and officially inaugurated on December 2, 2013. More than 100 investors were involved in the client model .

The City of Vienna awarded 2 million euros in cultural funding for an announced in-house cultural program. This was not achieved, but the money was used.

At the opening, the eventful history of the house was also remembered, for which the names Johann Strauss , Arthur Schnitzler , Karl May, Heinrich Himmler , Bruno Kreisky and Willy Brandt were named as random excerpts .

literature

Web links

Commons : Sofiensäle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Felix Czeike : Historisches Lexikon Wien , Volume 5, Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-218-00547-7 , p. 252
  2. ↑ daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , no. 12, January 12, 1848, advertisement on page 3
  3. ↑ Ernst Gotthilf-Miskolczy architektenlexikon.at; in Dehio and Czeike it is wrongly attributed to the architects Dehm & Olbricht.
  4. ↑ Sofiensaal. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
  5. ↑ Günter Scholdt: ›Up into the realm of the noble people‹ An idea of ​​humanity in the context of time , lecture, given in 1999, on the website of the German Karl May Society
  6. ↑ History of the Sofiensäle (pdf)
  7. ↑ Sofiensäle will become a hotel. In: oesterreich.orf.at. July 15, 2008, accessed November 1, 2018 .
  8. ↑ http://wien.orf.at/stories/385090/
  9. ↑ derstandard.at Soravia wants to breathe new life into "Sofie", 5th September 2010
  10. ↑ a b Maik Novotny: For a handful of gold leaf , in: Der Standard daily newspaper , Vienna, December 7, 2013, album supplement , p. A4, and the paper's website of December 6, 2013
  11. ^ Controversy about the Viennese Sofiensäle . In: profil.at . June 21, 2014 ( profil.at [accessed November 8, 2018]).

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 '24.5 "  N , 16 ° 23' 28.2"  E