Between 1923 and 1930 the Social Democratic city built a chain of council-housing superblocks (Gemeindebauten) on the former Draschegürtel in Margareten. Walk from Peter Behrens's Franz-Domes-Hof past Hubert Gessner's monumental Reumannhof and the Metzleinstaler Hof, the prototype of Red Vienna housing, to the twin courts of Aichinger and Schmid, with a detour across the Gürtel to the park where Joseph Haydn was first buried.
Best time: Daytime on a weekday or Saturday; the courtyards are homes, so walk through quietly and only where gates stand open.
The route, stop by stop
- 1Franz-Domes-Hof
Margaretengürtel 126-134. Built 1928-1930 to plans by Peter Behrens (opened 28 June 1930), 176 flats and a kindergarten. Look for the street courtyard, the vertical stair towers against horizontal balconies, and Mario Petrucci's figure 'Der Lichtbringer' by the right entrance, inscribed 'Licht in der Wohnung - Sonne im Herzen'. 10 min
- 2Reumannhof
Margaretengürtel 100-110. Hubert Gessner's symmetrical superblock (1924-1926, opened 27 June 1926), named after mayor Jakob Reumann, whose bust stands in the forecourt. The central block was planned at 40 m as Austria's first high-rise. Majolica panels showing trades decorate the archways. On 12 February 1934 police and army stormed it and broke the resistance of the Schutzbund. 15 min
- 3Haydnpark
Across the Gürtel in Meidling. Laid out in 1926 on the closed Hundsturm cemetery, where Joseph Haydn was buried; his original gravestone stands in a corner and a plaque marks the former grave. The view back across the road shows the whole Reumannhof façade. 10 min
- 4Metzleinstaler Hof
Margaretengürtel 90-98. Begun by Robert Kalesa during the First World War, stopped for lack of money, and completed 1923-1925 by Hubert Gessner as a closed courtyard with 252 flats. It counts as the prototype of Red Vienna council housing, the first true Gemeindebau. 10 min
- 5Herweghhof
Margaretengürtel 82-88. By Hermann Aichinger and Heinrich Schmid (1926/27), named after the poet Georg Herwegh. Terraces climb to Siebenbrunnenfeldgasse, arcades line the ground floor and the garden recalls a Baroque park. Between it and the Julius-Popp-Hof stands Hanna Gärtner's 1928 fountain with the signs of the zodiac and a she-bear with her cub. 10 min
- 6Julius-Popp-Hof
Margaretengürtel 76-80. The mirror-image partner of the Herweghhof, by the same architects (1925/26), with a public garden and a fountain by Theodor Igler in front. 5 min
- 7Matteottihof
Siebenbrunnenfeldgasse 26-30, behind the Gürtel courts. Aichinger and Schmid, 1926, named after the Italian socialist Giacomo Matteotti, murdered by fascists in 1924; after February 1934 it was briefly renamed 'Giordanihof'. It had a central laundry, a bathhouse and an alcohol-free restaurant. See the plaque on the arch to Fendigasse and the Mutter-Kind sgraffito at Fendigasse 31. 15 min
More walks in Vienna
- Imperial Vienna: cathedral to crypt
- Ringstraße: Opera to Votivkirche
- Otto Wagner and the Secession around Karlsplatz
- Roman and Jewish Vienna to Otto Wagner's bank
- Landstraße: Stadtpark to the Belvedere
- Schönbrunn: palace, Gloriette and Palm House
- Heiligenstadt: Karl-Marx-Hof to Beethoven's village
- Nussdorf vineyards to the Kahlenberg (Stadtwanderweg 1)
- Leopoldstadt: Jewish Vienna to the Augarten
- Along the Danube Canal: Urania to Otto Wagner's weir