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Vienna’s Ringstrasse and the Stubenviertel
The old city center of Vienna
remained a fortress until the middle
of the 19th century though the city
walls had already turned out to be
completely useless as a military
defense in 1809 when Napoleon
occupied the Hofburg after
bombarding the Burgbastei. The
fortifications also hampered the
increasing traffic between the city
center and the suburbs.
When Emperor Franz Joseph gave order
to build the Ringstrasse in 1857, it
had finally become possible to
transform Vienna from a medieval
city to a modern metropolis.
Prestigious cultural and
administrative buildings and
splendid palaces for the upper
echelons of the bourgeoisie lent
their character to this boulevard of
the monarchy’s capital which
was built from 1860 on.
In 1892/93, Otto Wagner participated
in the competition for a
“general regulation
plan” for Vienna and in the
competition for the development of
the Stubenviertel launched at about
the same time. His suggestions
served as the basis for the urban
development of the area around the
Postal Savings Bank. The site Wagner
considered for an “Imperial
and Royal Post Office”
conforms exactly to that of the
Postal Savings Bank he built in
later years.
The Postal Savings Bank competition
The competition for the Imperial and
Royal Postal Savings Bank office
building was launched as an open and
anonymous procedure in February
1903. It took three jury meetings (7
may, 6 june, 10 june) until Wagners
submission won out among the 37
entries.
According to the protocol, it was
above all Otto Wagner’s
submission which was discussed by
the jury both passionately and
in-depth. Contrary to the
specifications of the tender, he had
combined the halls for the savings
business and for check transactions
– a solution which some
architects among the jury members
tried to use as an argument for
rejecting Wagner’s project but
which was recognized as a functional
improvement not considered before by
the representatives of the Postal
Savings Bank.
The competition was remarkable for
three reasons: not only did the jury
take three not subsequent days for
evaluating the projects, its members
also examined the projects
individually between the meetings;
last, not least, the priority given
to functional and constructive
criteria over stylistic evaluations
clearly evidences that modernity is
gaining ground.
The projects entered in the
competition for the Postal Savings
Bank clearly reveal the conflict of
the period around 1900 to do justice
to the new functional necessities in
the guise of the stylistic
variations of historicism.
Theodor Bach’s design was
an attempt to apply the formal
vocabulary of the Renaissance to the
appearance of the new structure.
The design by Professor Max Freiherr von
Ferstel, son of the architect
Heinrich von Ferstel, who built the
Votivkirche, the University of
Vienna, and the Museum of Art and
Industry, was described as a richly
structured mansarded palace in a
quasi-Renaissance style. 
The
contribution by Franz Freiherr von
Krauß and Josef Tölk,
with its allusions to the
“early Empire style” and
its modernist approaches, is
stylistically most closely related
to Otto Wagner’s design.
Otto Wagner’s contribution to the competition
Otto Wagner’s project was
certainly the most carefully
worked-out of all suggestions
submitted to the jury of the
competition. He was the only
participant able to combine the
vision of a new Postal Savings Bank
with that of a new, modern
architecture. It is an extremely
rare event in the history of
architecture to see a visionary task
coincide with visionary architecture
and client and architecture pursue
the same contents and objectives.
The prize-winning design had
included a large glazed roof above
the central part of the building
which was to protect the glazed roof
of the banking hall below from
atmospheric influences. Despite
Wagner’s protests, this large
roof was not built in order to
reduce expenses.
double-shell glazed roof directly
above the banking hall instead. This
entailed a change of the entrance
front of the central building: the
originally planned attic areas were
realized in a less prominent form
and emphasized by 4,5-meter high
aluminum acroteria.
The building has eight stories. It
is built of brick and has reinforced
concrete floors. The partition walls
are non-load-bearing so that the
spaces between them can be easily
altered. Otto Wagner expounded on
the expediency and sustainability of
all elements of the construction.
Everything was to be not expensive,
durable, and easy to maintain, was
to improve the functionality and
guarantee a hygienic working
environment.
The second construction stage was
realized only four years after the
opening of the Postal Savings Bank.
The completion of the lay-out had
already been part of the urban
development plan for the
reorganization of the Stubenviertel,
but was mentioned neither in the
competition design nor in the
descriptions concerning the
realization of the first stage.
By
not changing his basic concept and
developing a consistent extension,
Wagner proved the quality of his
structural, constructive and
organizational approach. A vertical
joint in the façade clearly
distinguishes the added building,
the structure of which Wagner
radically simplified with the
cladding he chose. His even more
functional solution for this part of
the building becomes also visible in
the alignment of the basement.
Though the addition is clearly
recognizable in its architectural
features, it does not bring about a
break of the overall impression.
Wagner’s solution is an
unmistakable declaration that
architecture can and must proceed
both technically and formally
without ignoring existing
structures. Present-day visitors
will see the first and the second
construction stages as a harmonious
whole; the difference between the
two will only reveal itself to
meticulous viewers.
As revolutionary Otto Wagner’s
position and vision may have been
against the background of his time,
as evolutionary was the move with
which he conducted the inhabitants
of Vienna into the future of
architecture with his extension of
the Postal Savings Bank. The added
structure may be regarded as a
perfect example of the possibilities
inherent in the careful and thorough
development of an existing building
which is still worth considering
today.
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