The western section of the Ringstrasse is dominated by grand public buildings, its eastern part is more bourgeois. Most of the buildings were commissioned by wealthy industrial tycoons.Their favourite ‘parade ground’ was the so-called ‘Corso’ between the Bristol Hotel and  Schwarzenbergplatz.It was the place ‘to see and be seen’ on a Sunday morning. Eventually, luxury hotels sprang up and the tranquil Stadtpark was laid out. We tell you the story behind the conversion of a private residence into the Imperial Hotel, why Emperor Franz Joseph’s youngest brother was banned from the court, why the Blue Danube Waltz was originally composed for a choir, and why Schwarzenbergplatz is dominated by a Soviet war memorial. The tour ends at Otto Wagner’s Postal Savings Bank, the most monumental of Vienna’s Modernist buildings
