kk priv. mirror factory

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The kk priv. Spiegelfabrik , previously Spiegelfabrik Viehofen or Viehofner Spiegelfabrik , was the first factory in today's St. Pölten district of Viehofen . Ignaz Hessl acquired the former mill in 1804 and had it converted to produce mirrors ; it was one of the largest mirror producers in the Austrian Empire . The factory was closed in 1858 and converted into the F. Austin lace, bobbinet and curtain factory in 1866 . A senior housing estate is to be built here in the future.

history

At the place of the mirror factory there was a mill driven by a Werkbach of the Traisen , called Medlische Mühle or Medle'sche Mühle , since at least 1510 . When Ignaz Benedict Hessel bought it in 1804 for 19,000 guilders , the structural condition was poor. In the following six years he intended to set up a mirror production facility, and in May 1806 the construction of the factory building and the foil hammer began . Shortly afterwards, the construction of the officials' apartment and the warehouse began. In April 1807 the loop and four polishing tables were in operation. Most of the workers, like the foreman, came from the mirror factory in Birkstein in the Leitmeritz district in Bohemia .

Some of the materials used to manufacture mirrors came from the immediate vicinity, so the grinding material was obtained from two sand pits belonging to the company in Großrust and Kleinrust . The white raw glass was originally obtained from Bohemia and ground, polished and covered in Viehofen. In 1816 the Spiegelfabrik Viehofen and Georg Voith, who had been running a glassworks in St. Vinzenz in Styria since 1795 , merged with the glassworks of Johann von Reichenhall in Sankt Paul im Lavanttal to form a company that from then on operated as the kk priv. Spiegelfabrik . From then on, the glasses processed in Viehofen came from the two glassworks in Carinthia and Styria. In 1819 Thomas Voith is given as the owner, in 1836 Josephine Haubtmannsberger, née Voith.

Franz Xaver Schweickhardt describes the mirror factory in 1836 in relative detail. The factory building was a two-story building, on the ground floor of which there were 16 grinding tables in addition to the hydropower systems and machines . There was also a polishing unit for the facets . In addition to other facilities, there were large polishing rooms with six polishing tables each on the first and second floors . In the immediate vicinity there were ancillary buildings that housed the officials' apartments, storage rooms and the sand sieves. Behind the plant were the foil hammer mill and the gypsum distillery as well as the workers' houses.

In 1846 the factory was awarded the golden medal of the Austrian trade association . At that time, the company had 800 employees, about half of whom were employed in Viehofen and St. Vinzenz. Johann B. Haubtmannsberger, apparently Josephine's husband, is given as the owner. In 1854, Amalia Edle is named by Beck as the owner, the factory produced 1,260 mirrors. In 1858 both the Viehofner plant and the glassworks in St. Vinzenz were shut down.

In the following years Johann Schoder ran a cold water sanatorium in the former factory, in 1866 Frederick Austin acquired the site and expanded it into the F. Austin lace, bobbinet and curtain factory . In July 2010, the plan was announced to build a senior citizens' housing estate with a nursing home on the site .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anton Scheiblin , 1937: From medieval handicraft businesses to modern industrial plants on the Traisen streams . In: Der Traisengau , 3rd year, booklet 1st chapter Der Hammer zu Viehofen , pp. 148-149
  2. ^ Anton Scheiblin , 1937: From medieval handicraft businesses to modern industrial plants on the Traisen streams . In: Der Traisengau , 3rd year, issue 1st chapter Die kk privilegierte Spiegelfabrik zu Viehofen , pp. 133-139
  3. ↑ Manfred Wieninger , 2002: Tell St. Pöltner street names . Entry to Spiegelgegasse , p. 356. ISBN 3-7066-2208-4
  4. ↑ FA Brockhaus , 1819: Leipziger hand dictionary of trading, accounting and wares , third volume. Chapter Appendix IV. The Austrian Monarchy , entry kk priv. Spiegelfabrik , p. 405. (Online at Google Books )
  5. ^ A b Franz Xaver Schweickhardt , 1836: Representation of the Archduchy of Austria under the Ens , Volume 2: District of Upper Vienna Woods , Chapter Viehofen - Die Fabrik Viehofen , pp. 190–193. (Online at Google Books )
  6. ^ Kk Hof- und Staats-Druckerei , 1846: Report on the third general Austrian trade exhibition in Vienna , chapter Spiegel , entry JB Haubtmannsberger , pp. 110–111. (Online at Google Books )
  7. ↑ Rudolf Büttner , 1972: St. Pölten as a location for industrial and large-scale production since 1850 , chapter mirror manufacturing , pp. 27–28
  8. ↑ Living City on st-poelten.gv.at


Coordinates: 48 ° 13 ′ 55.5 ″  N , 15 ° 38 ′ 53.2 ″  E