Otto Wagner: Two Gems on the Wienzeile

Two apartment buildings in Vienna, side-by-side and across the street from the Naschmarkt, are highlights of Otto Wagner’s early highly-decorated Art Nouveau, or Secession style, built before his more-subdued later period.

Medallion House, at 38 Linke Wienzeile, takes its name from the elaborate gold decorations
The bright and colorful tiles give Majolica House its name

The two exuberant buildings, as well as the whole artistic and architectural revolution Vienna was seeing in the 1890s were the product of an optimistic period. Vienna was the capital of a still-powerful empire, its population and wealth were growing, and few if any foresaw World War I and its effects.

The street itself was new: the Wien river had just been roofed over and the streets that had been its banks were now prime building sites. The pavilions of the Naschmarkt were built directly over the river.

Wagner was not only a practicing and teaching architect; he was an active member of artistic circles, including the Secession. as were some of his frequent collaborators, including Koloman Moser, who created the gold medallions, and Othmar Schimkowitz, who sculpted the two ‘Calling Angels’ at the roof of the building. Years later, as styles changed, the sculptures were removed, but were restored in the 1980s. Schimkowitz was also the sculptor of the rooftop angels at Wagner’s Postsparkasse building.

Thomas Ledl/Wikimedia Commons

Both Medallion House and its neighbor, Majolica House at No. 40, have elaborate metalwork on balconies, stairwells and elevator shafts, a characteristic of early Secession architecture in Vienna.

But Majolica House is different in more than just appearance; its tile facade was designed to reduce maintenance: Almost all exterior cleaning could be done with fire hoses. The tile work is, of course, majolica, a type of pottery tile made by painting pottery tiles with colored lead silicate glaze and then firing to a hard-wearing and durable surface.

The majolica facade, with its typical Secession-era floral designs, was largely the work of one of Wagner’s students, Alois Ludwig.

Two interior views show the continuation both of the elaborate metalwork and the floral design.

Elevator cage: TARS631/Wikimedia Commons, Stair railing: Haeferl/Wikimedia Commons

To the left and right of the Wagner buildings stands proof that the new styles were not the only ones in use in Vienna at the time; both buildings were built within a year or so of Medallion House and Majolica House. No. 42 has been described as showing “an overenthusasm for neo-Baroque ornament,” a charge I think is amply proven.

At the other end of the block, at No. 36, is a building a little less over-run by ornaments, but clearly classical and historicist in its intentions. It was built for a family that became wealthy in the textile trade; as was common, the family occupied a large home within the building while the rest was rented out in smaller portions. The building was seized from the part-Jewish family in 1938 and restored to the few survivors after the war.

For more TravelGumbo articles on Art Nouveau art and architecture, click HERE

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Marilyn Jones
12 days ago

So beautiful!

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