Stefan Esders department store

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Esders department store around 1900
The Department Store (1917)

The department store to big factory was a 1895 by Stefan Esders established, existing for several decades large Wiener (textile) department store at the address Mariahilferstrasse 18 in the 7th Viennese district construction .

history

Designed by architect Friedrich Schachner and built by master builders Franz Kupka and Gustav Orglmeister based on the most modern achievements and Parisian models, the five-storey establishment Zur Große Fabrik was opened on April 3rd and 4th, 1895 and was one of the largest department stores in the world at the time. The 39 large, electrically illuminated displays on the ground floor and mezzanine were eye-catching. The unusually large interior of the building was achieved by a glass roofing over the inner courtyard on the first floor, around which the sales rooms of 12,000 m² were arranged on two floors. Originally a three-armed iron staircase led to the upper floor, which was located in the line of sight to the corner entrance at Mariahilfer Straße / Karl-Schweighofer-Gasse. The clothing factory was on the third and fourth floors, and apartments on the fifth; also that of Stefan Esders.

120 salespeople were available to serve the audience, and with the mannequins newly installed by Esders , he was able to present the clothing accordingly. In addition to men's and boys' clothing and underwear, men's hats, shoes, gloves and umbrellas were also offered, and later women's fashion. A “business establishment of similar magnificence [has never existed] in Vienna”.

Lively debates broke out soon after the opening. Stefan Esders and his brother Henri Esders owned several large department stores in various cities in Europe (for example the Esders department store in Dresden). He had the clothing manufactured in the publishing system and acted as a bulk buyer on the world market. With this principle he was able to offer his goods with only a moderate profit margin at unrivaled low prices. Esders was the first in Vienna to introduce a profit-sharing system (bonus payments) for its employees.

While the liberal and also the social democratic press praised the new department store for its “metropolitan” layout and its business principle, there were massive defensive reactions from institutions and political groups that felt obliged to represent small business interests. There was also slight confusion, since the strategy of linking petty - bourgeois anti-capitalism with virulent anti-Semitism , which had been pursued by these groups up to now, was ineffective in the case of Esders. The Christian Social Reichspost wrote on April 6, 1895 that it was to be regretted "in a branch of business that was previously exclusively an object of exploitation in the hands of Jews in Austria, now also to have to meet a Christian." The new establishment would destroy hundreds of small-scale independent businesses . There was also an inquiry in the Vienna City Council, in which the Christian Socialist Alexander Purscht accusingly noted that international capital had “this time chosen a particularly clever form in its foray into the wealth of the population”, that it would be “the one currently ruling among the Christian population Mood of wanting to buy 'only from Christians' exploited by international capitalism this time inviting the pt audience to stroll in under the banner of Catholicism. ”Also in the Reichsrat , the Christian Social Members Prince Liechtenstein , Albert Gessmann and comrades made a corresponding request to the Minister of Commerce .

Over time, however, the attacks directed against Esders calmed down, although projects such as the department store tax propagated around 1905 were of course also aimed at this large company. In any case, this department store established itself as one of the “big three” of Vienna's department stores around 1900 on Mariahilfer Strasse and Stefan Esders had the Kaasgraben Church built between 1909 and 1910 . Major extensions and alterations were made in 1898, 1912 and after the sale to the Leiner company. In the Christmas season of 1904, advertisements by Stefan Esders appeared both in the Reichspost and in the Christian- social satirical newspaper Kikeriki .

After the founder's death in 1920, it was continued by his son Bernhard until 1933 and then by his grandson Stefan. After the Second World War it was looted and in 1964 the department store was sold to the textile, carpet and furniture company Rudolf Leiner GmbH , which made extensive changes and extensions in 1990/1991.

Quote

“The 'big factory' works for all classes of society, for all classes and professions, for the rich elegant as well as for the man who has to reckon with a modest income and limited means - it is a department store for Greater Vienna in the broadest sense. "

- New Free Press of April 4, 1895

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neue Freie Presse of April 4, 1895, p. 4.
  2. ^ Neue Freie Presse of April 4, 1895, Neues Wiener Tagblatt of April 2, 1895, Arbeiter-Zeitung of April 3, 1895
  3. ↑ a b Gerhard Meißl: Old-fashioned or modern Vienna. On the discussion of department stores and department store taxes in Vienna between 1890 and 1914. In: Andreas Lehne (Ed.): Wiener Warenhäuser 1865–1914 , pp. 70 f.

literature

Web links

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 4 "  N , 16 ° 21 ′ 32"  E