The Grand Hotel Wien is a five-star luxury

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It is located on the

Ringstraße The Vienna Ring Road (german: Ringstraße, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna, Austria. The road is located on sites where ...

at Kärntner Ring 9.

History

The hotel has a long history and tradition. The architect was

Carl Tietz Carl Tietz (25 January 1831 – 3 August 1874) was a German architect who practiced in Austria. Life and career Tietz was born in Jastrow and came from a humble background. He completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer and later worked as a ...

, and it was opened as the first Viennese luxury hotel in 1870. It originally had over 300 rooms, 200 bathrooms, a

steam-power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cylinder. This pus ...

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

, and a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

office. The hotel became an instant hit with the

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

and became a popular meeting place, since it was centrally located for the

Korso Korso is a district and major region in northeastern Vantaa, Finland. The district has 7,402 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2014). Since 2007, the Korso major region has included the following nine districts: Matari, Korso, Mikkola, Metsola, Lep ...

restaurant. In 1894, the

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

king

Johann Strauß II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...

celebrated his 50-year stage anniversary at the hotel. In 1911, the hotel was extended into the neighbouring buildings at Kärntner Ring 11 and 13. Also, all rooms had their own

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

s installed. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the hotel housed

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

troops from 1945 to 1955. The hotel reopened for regular business in 1958, but was sold to the Austrian government. The government rented the building to the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

(IAEA), which located its headquarters there until 1979, when IAEA moved to the

Vienna International Centre The Vienna International Centre (VIC) is the campus and building complex hosting the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV; in de-AT, Büro der Vereinten Nationen in Wien). It is colloquially also known as UNO City. Overview The VIC, designed ...

. Ten years later,

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

purchased the hotel and began an ambitious reconstruction. The hotel was reduced to its original size and completely refurbished and renovated. The historical

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

by Tietz was restored, while the interior was modernized. The hotel was renamed "ANA Grand Hotel" and reopened in 1994. ANA sold the hotel in 2002 to the

JJW Hotels & Resorts JJW Hotels & Resorts Limited is an international private company of Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber with principal business interests in acquisition, development and operation of several hotels and resorts throughout Europe and the Middle East. The co ...

group, and the name reverted to "Grand Hotel Wien".

References

Fodor's Vienna to Salzburg - Inc. Fodor's Travel Publications
p. 95.
Fodor's Vienna & the Best of Austria - Fodor's
p. 186.

External links

*
Grand Hotel Wien
- official website
JJW Hotels & Resorts

JJW Luxury Collection

Grand Hotel Wien The Grand Hotel Wien is a five-star luxury hotel in Vienna, Austria. It is located on the Ringstraße at Kärntner Ring 9. History The hotel has a long history and tradition. The architect was Carl Tietz, and it was opened as the first Viennese l ...

Second Empire architecture Hotels established in 1870 {{Austria-hotel-stub