| Towards the end of the 19th century,
Vienna was bursting at the seams, and the suburbs beyond today’s Gürtel were on
the verge of being incorporated into the city. The idea of a planned villa
district was born. Within just a few decades, a uniquely cohesive ensemble
emerged, the preservation of which remains the core mission of the Vienna
Cottage Association, founded in 1874.
The concept, its beginnings, the
development of the buildings, and the characteristic architecture, modelled on
the English country house style, form one of the focal points of our tour from
the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) to
Gymnasiumstrasse. Equally fascinating, however, are the insights into the lives
of its upper-middle-class and upper-class residents. As bankers, entrepreneurs,
scientists, politicians, artists, writers, or generous patrons of the arts,
they not only shaped the quarter but also left their mark on the entire city.
Numerous fates ended in expulsion, flight, or murder.
We'll trace the arc from the idea of
healthy living in a green setting to the expulsion from paradise by the Nazi
dictatorship, discuss the illustrious neighborhood of artists, doctors,
politicians, and industrialists, admire select examples of Ringstrasse
architecture, mourn the loss of many architectural gems, and follow the journey
of Felix Salten's "Bambi" from Cottagegasse to Hollywood. |
