My Vienna: Imperial Court Pavilion Hietzing (O. Wagner)
Above/featured: Facing east, a U4 train departs Hietzing station to terminus Heiligenstadt.
Along Vienna’s U4 metro line, a dark-domed white cube-like structure seems to float over the tracks between Schönbrunn and Hietzing stations. Most may not realize the building’s relevance to the history of the city’s first railway, the city’s rapid urban evolution into the 20th-century, and the railway architect’s eventual “break away” transition from historicism to modernism.
Vienna was going to look very different after 1890. The city undertook its second and greatest expansion, absorbing 6 outer districts and ballooning the total population to almost 1.4 million (almost doubled in 10 years). The city’s administration recognized the challenge of efficiently transporting people between its new outer suburbs and the inner city. In 1894, Vienna appointed architect Otto Wagner with the complete design and construction of the new Wiener Stadtbahn metropolitan railway. The railway saw the creation of four new lines: the Danube canal line (Donaukanallinie), the “Belt” line (Gürtellinie), the suburb line (Vorortlinie), and the Vienna river valley line (Wientallinie). Today, the city’s U-Bahn U4 and U6 lines and the S-Bahn S45 line operate electrified over much of the original routing.
The Vienna valley line brought track and construction in front of Schönbrunn, the imperial summer palace for the ruling Habsburgs. The rail line’s new Schönbrunn station was located at the northeast corner of the palace grounds. But at the grounds’ northwest corner, Wagner created two stations: one for the public, and one for the Habsburgs. Built for the inauguration of the city railway on 1 June 1898, the imperial pavilion was set aside for the emperor, family, and staff. Emperor Franz Josef I only used the pavilion twice, as he was reluctant (hostile) to accept rapid changes brought by modernity.
Wagner created a domed-building whose interior was furnished with floral and vegetal elements in the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) style, a painting with a bird’s eye view of the city over Schönbrunn, a private suite for the emperor; and whose exterior included the uniform green and white colours seen throughout the entire rail network, glass and wrought-iron elements, and a separate portal providing a covered entrance for the imperials. Out of the many station buildings Wagner designed for the entire system, the imperial pavilion at Hietzing is most associated with the “historical” architectural style. The building is now a part of the city’s Wien Museum after successful post-war efforts to save and restore the structure.
The informal name is the “Hofpavillon Hietzing” (Imperial Court Pavilion Hietzing), but the building’s formal name is “Pavillon des kaiserlichen und königlichen Allerhöchsten Hofes” (Pavilion of the Imperial and Royal Highest Court). In the images below are divided sections: “exterior”, “interior”, and “sketches”.
Exterior
In front of Hietzing station, facing east in late-afternoon light: Vienna river at left and the imperial court pavilion at centre – 15 May 2022.
Facing east to the pavilion and its distinguishing central dome, from Schönbrunner Schloßstraße – 15 May 2022.
Wrought-iron portico and driveway ramp to “street-level” entrance. The two side medallions with “FII” represent (Emperor) Franz Joseph I, for whom the pavilion was constructed. Photo, 15 May 2022.
Interior
Central dome-room (Kuppelraum): waiting area, facing south. With regal warmth, the room is decorated with red-brown mahogany panels, walls covered by red embroidery with stems and leaves, and a soft carpet with stylized philodendra flowers. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Central dome-room: waiting area, facing north to painting. Photo, 29 May 2022.
A nod to the imperial Habsburgs is Carl Moll’s 1899 painting: “Blick auf Wien aus der Ballonhöhe von 3000 m über der Schönbrunner Gloriette” (View of Vienna from a balloon at height 3000 metres over Schönbrunn Gloriette). Photo, 29 May 2022.
Do you recognize key Vienna landmarks in the 1899 painting? By this time, both Danube and Vienna rivers have been straightened and regulated. Appearing as “little white pavilions” at street-level above the newly regulated Vienna river are Wagner’s newest municipal railway stations at Kettenbrückengasse (1896), Pilgramgasse (1897), twin pavilions at Karlsplatz (1898), and Stadtpark (1897).
Dome room (Kuppelraum): above the Carl Moll painting are floral and vegetal motifs. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Directly overhead in the dome room – 29 May 2022.
Geometric floral pattern on the ceiling, outside the dome room – 29 May 2022.
West loggia: pattern in the window and metal-work for the radiator. At left is a staircase down and direct access to platform for trains (to Praterstern); now closed to the public. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Even with the imperial pavilion’s exclusive clientele, the emperor had his own private suite, located north of the central dome-room. Inside the private suite, facing east. The reflection of the biped in the mirror is not that of an imperial. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Decorative floral motifs: embroidered wall covering and light fixtures next to the mirror at the east end of the private suite. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Inside the private suite, facing west – 29 May 2022.
A set of doors between central dome room and outer loggia – 29 May 2022.
Floral patterns in the plaster above door – 29 May 2022.
Floral patterns above door – 29 May 2022.
Pattern detail of plaster mouldings in the ceiling of the outer loggia; compare with the image below. Photo, 29 May 2022.
Sketches
1899 cover of “Ver Sacrum” magazine: volume 2, issue no. 8 (II. Jahrgang, Heft 8). Compare the design in this image with the “real thing” above. Photo from museum display, 29 May 2022
1896–1897 drawing of the station exterior in elevation (1:50 scale). This drawing was published in “Einige Skizzen, Projecte, und ausgeführte Bauwerke,” 2. Band, by Otto Wagner (Wien: Kunstverlag Ant. Schroll v. Comp., 1897). Photo from museum display, 29 May 2022.
1898 sketch by Otto Wagner: ground plan for the imperial court pavilion (scale 1:100). North is at top, and for clarity I’ve duplicated some labels from the sketch. The two staircases at the northwest and southwest corners lead “down” to the train platforms. It’s “left-hand” driving in 1898, which in Vienna got switched to “right-hand” in 1938. This sketch was published in “Einige Skizzen, Projecte, und ausgeführte Bauwerke,” 2. Band, by Otto Wagner (Wien: Kunstverlag Ant. Schroll v. Comp., 1897). Photo from museum display, 29 May 2022.
1906 rail network map in Vienna; north at top. Orange lines and rectangles, respectively, indicate primary regional railways and their stations. Blue lines and rectangles represent the Vienna city railway and its stations. A black arrow marks the location of the Imperial Pavilion, just east from Hietzing station on the Wientallinie, with the accompanying label “W” for the Vienna valley rail line. This map was published in “Wien am Anfang des XX. Jahrhunderts,” 1. Band, by Paul Kortz (Wien: Gerlach & Wiedling, 1905). Photo from museum display, 29 May 2022.
Directions & hours
About 150 metres east from Hietzing station, the Imperial Court Pavilion next to Schönbrunner Schloßstraße is located opposite the Engelstor (Angel Gate) at the northwest corner of Schönbrunner Schlosspark.
Public transport to train station “Hietzing”, with Wiener Linien:
• U-Bahn U4 train (fastest mode);
• Tram 10 or 60;
• Bus 51A, 56A, 56B, 58A, or 58B.
The pavilion interior is open (with admission charge) on weekends from April to October with hours 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm.
Sources
• Kortz, Paul, Wien am Anfang des XX. Jahrhunderts, 1. Band (Wien: Gerlach & Wiedling, 1905).
• Parsons, Nicholas, Vienna: A Cultural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
• Sarnitz, August, Otto Wagner 1841–1918: Forerunner of Modern Architecture (Köln: Taschen, 2005).
• Schorske, Carl E., Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (New York: Alfred E. Knopf, Inc., 1980).
• Smith, Duncan J.D., Only In Vienna: Guide to Unique Locations, Hidden Corners and Unusual Objects, 4th edition (The Urban Explorer, 2015).
• Wagner, Otto; Einige Skizzen, Projecte, und ausgeführte Bauwerke, 2. Band (Wien: Kunstverlag Ant. Schroll v. Comp., 1897).
My visits to Hofpavillon Hietzing were neither requested nor sponsored. I made all photos above with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime on 15 May and 29 May 2022. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-gpg.
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