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The vision of modernity and its defeat
In spite of his outstanding
buildings, his masterworks, his
visionary theory, his enormous
impact on the emergence of modernity
in Vienna around 1900, one cannot
but concede that Otto Wagner’s
endeavors were also thwarted by
Vienna. The inertia that
characterized the conservative
forces of the declining monarchy was
too massive. Wagner’s failure cannot
just be attributed to his so-called
colleagues’ and the politicians’
jealousy and ignorance that blocked
the realization of many of his
projects and brought about the
grotesque around his designs for the
Franz Joseph Museum, for example,
which dragged on for years. The
fight against Wagner seems to have
been rooted not least in the destiny
of this city in which convenient
lies of past days are still rated
more highly than commitment to the
future.
The competition for the building of
the Ministry of War in 1908, which
is located directly opposite the
Postal Savings Bank, was won by
Ludwig Baumann with the approval of
Archduke Ferdinand, successor to the
throne. 66 architects, among them
Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and Leopold
Bauer, had submitted their plans.
Baumann’s monument of
governmental self-representation is
the opposite of modern architecture.
Otto Wagner’s school
As Professor at the Vienna Academy
of Fine Arts, Otto Wagner gathered
an enthusiastic group of students
from all over the world around him.
191 students enrolled for his school
during the twenty years of its
existence. They had to work out
three projects in the three-year
course: a Viennese apartment house
in their first year; a public
building in their second year; and,
in their third year, a
“problem you will most
probably never be confronted with in
all your life, yet the formative
exploration of which will ignite the
divine spark of fantasy smoldering
in you and make it explode into a
bright shining flame.”
The message of Otto Wagner’s
school spread all over Europe.
Jože Plečnik in Slovenia,
Viktor Kovačić in Zagreb,
and Jan Kotěra in Prague became
founders of their countries’
modernist movements. Rudolph M.
Schindler emigrated to California,
worked for Frank Lloyd Wright, and
made an essential contribution to
the development of Californian
modernism. The projects of the
school, which were published
regularly in the magazine
“Architekt,” were taken
notice of from St. Petersburg to
Barcelona. And the architecture of
Red Vienna was decisively informed
by its students such as Gessner,
Ehn, Schmid, Aichinger, Hetmanek,
Hoppe, Kammerer, and Schönthal.
“An analysis of the situation
of architecture can and must be
based on Wagner’s system.
Considering the whole modernist
movement, it was historically the
first, the most exclusive, the most
concrete, and the first
ideologically organized system; he
set a trend in Europe, and this not
only because of his many successes
but also because all modern European
cities are under his sway.”
(Pavel Janák, student of O.
Wagner, Prague 1910)
The general refurbishment of the Postal Savings Bank from 2003 to 2005
The Postal Savings Bank underwent
large-scale restoration and
renovation on the occasion of the
100th anniversary of its opening.
Architect Professor Diether S. Hoppe
was entrusted with the refurbishment
of the building.
The project comprised the
restoration of the historically
significant public zones and
management quarters, the restoration
of the interior to the original
state as intended by Otto Wagner,
the refurbishment of the Large
Banking Hall and the historical
double-shell steel and glazed roof
construction above it, the
restoration of the façades of
the tiled inner courtyard and the
installation of a new protective
roof.
The Small Banking Hall, built during
the second construction phase and
inaccessible for a long time,
underwent redesign; modern, yet
unobtrusive lighting was installed,
and the hall was connected with the
Large Banking Hall by passageways.
Having been equipped with showcases
and a media room, the Small Banking
Hall now accommodates the new
“WAGNER:WERK” museum.
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| WAGNER:WERK - MUSEUM POSTSPARKASSE - Georg Coch-Platz 2, 1018 Vienna |
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