GuentherZ 0028 Wien04 Palais Freiherr Albert von Rothschild Heugasse26 Gartenseite

The Palais Albert Rothschild was a palatial residence in

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 was one of five

Palais Rothschild Palais Rothschild refers to a number of palaces in Vienna, Austria, which were owned by members of the Austrian branch of the Rothschild banking family. Apart from their sheer size and elegance, they were famous for the huge collections of valu ...

in the city that were owned by members of the

Rothschild banking family of Austria The Rothschild banking family of Austria ( de-AT, Rothschild Bankiersfamilie) was founded by banker Salomon Mayer von Rothschild in 1820 in Vienna in what was then the Austrian Empire. History Salomon Mayer had been sent to Austria from his hom ...

, a branch of the international

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

. It was located at Heugasse 26 (today Prinz-Eugen-Straße 20–22), in the 4th (

Wieden Wieden (; Central Bavarian: ''Wiedn'') is the 4th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (german: 4. Bezirk). It is near the centre of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but its borders were changed later. Wieden is a small region ...

) district of Vienna. Commissioned by Baron Albert von Rothschild, it was designed and built by the French architect

Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur Hippolyte Destailleur (27 September 1822 – 17 November 1893) was a French architect, interior designer, and collector. He is noted for his designs and restoration work for great châteaux in France and in England, as well as his collection of bo ...

between 1876 and 1884, and demolished in 1954.

Description

The building was unusual for Vienna: designed in the French

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

“

hôtel particulier An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side an ...

” style, the layout was

U-shape Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shapes are named after a most common object that has it. For example, "U-shape" is a shape that resembles the letter U, a bell-shaped curve has the shape of the vertical ...

d, three storeys high and set back from the street by a courtyard, with the estate fenced off by a high iron grill. Apparently, as a child Baron Albert had lived in

Salomon Mayer von Rothschild Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (9 September 1774 – 28 July 1855) was a German-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family. Family He was born at Frankfurt am Main ...

's house in 1848, which would explain the palace's seclusion from the public. Attached to the palace was a garden, which bordered on Plößlgasse. The entrance hall to the palace was dominated by an enormous

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

staircase, with the walls decorated with priceless

gobelin Gobelin was the name of a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, France, and who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre. The firs ...

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

s and

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

s. The

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

and various

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

s had ceilings painted by

Jean de Witt Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

and

Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an import ...

, and they were richly decorated with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

, and heavy hanging

crystal chandelier "Crystal Chandelier" (more commonly known as Crystal Chandeliers) is a 1965 Country song written by Ted Harris and popularized by Charley Pride. The original rendition was sung by Carl Belew. His version reached number 12 on the U.S. ''Billboa ...

s. The ornate parquet floors were made with expensive rare woods, and the furniture was in the style of Louis-Seize. A special feature was a large orchestrion, built into a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

between the ballroom and one of the salons. Together with a smaller orchestrion, these two instruments could replace an entire

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. In addition to being a private residence, Baron Albert used it to conduct his

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

business. An unusual element of the building was the private

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

, located in the middle projection (''Mittelrisalit'') at the highest point of the palace. It was reached by a small wooden staircase beginning from the second floor, and it was fitted with numerous telescopes for viewing the stars (the Baron was interested in astronomy).pg. 149, Dieter Klein, Martin Kupf, Robert Schediwy (Ed.) ''Stadtbildverluste Wien - Ein Rückblick auf fünf Jahrzehnte''. LIT Verlag, Vienna 2005. .

Gallery

File:Palais Albert Rothschild perspective view entrance front - Kortz 1906 p397 (adjusted).jpg, Entrance front File:Palais Albert Rothschild first-floor plan - Kortz 1906 p397 (adjusted).jpg, Plan of the ground floor

History

After the ''

Anschluß The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") ...

'' (annexation) of Austria by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938, the Rothschild family was forced to flee and went into exile in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Almost immediately, the Nazis turned their attention to the Rothschild art collections, which were the largest and most valuable Jewish-owned art collections in Austria. The treasures of Baron Louis von Rothschild, composed of

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

and

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s, were all seized and removed from his house at Theresianumgasse, prior to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

commandeering the building as its Vienna headquarters.

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna () was a ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD-Security Service) agency established in August 1938 to accelerate the forced emigration of the Austrian Jews and (starting in October 1939) to organize and carr ...

, the "purpose" of which was to "organise" the

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

of Jews from Austria. One of its primary missions was to strip Austrian Jewish citizens of all money and possessions, holding them to ransom in exchange for the hope of receiving emigration permits. Often, the permits were withheld even after all demands had been met, usually guaranteeing the victims a one-way trip to a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. Despite the difficulties, Eichmann managed to force nearly 45,000 Jews to emigrate from Austria between August and November 1938. Baron Albert von Rothschild was forced to sign a document giving his consent to the art collection's confiscation, plus the appropriation of all Rothschild assets in Austria by the German government, in exchange for his brother's release from Dachau concentration camp and safe passage for them both out of Austria. Elsewhere in Vienna, other collections were confiscated and taken to a collection point for examination. In all, 163 collections were confiscated. From this plunder, 269 paintings of high value were picked out, of which 122 were later selected for consideration by Hitler for inclusion in his planned museum in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

. With the beginning of the ''

Endlösung The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

'' ("

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

") and the destruction of the Austrian Jewish community, the Gestapo office for emigration ceased to function. Eichmann himself was transferred elsewhere to organise the deportation and murder of Jews in the concentration camps, and

Alois Brunner Alois Brunner (8 April 1912 – December 2001) was an Austrian (SS) SS-Hauptsturmführer who played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in occupied Austria, Greece, Macedonia, France, ...

became the head of the Central Agency.Gabriel Anderl and Dirk Rupnow: ''Die Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung als Beraubungsinstitution''(English: ''The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration as an Institution for Theft''). München 2004, ., p. 121 (in German). A postal and

telegram 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 was set up in the palace itself; it was slightly damaged during the war. Though still standing and functional, by war's end, Baron Louis von Rothschild found it in a state of total

neglect In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness and ...

, its interior largely plundered by the Nazis. In the following years, he tried to obtain compensation from the Austrian government for his family's losses and the ruined Rothschild

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. At that time, the government took the stance that Austria had been a victim of the war and therefore not responsible. Many

bureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", ...

ic hurdles and much

red tape Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to g ...

made it almost impossible for any surviving Austrian Jew to get their property back or receive any proper compensation. The Baron only received a small amount of compensation and finally gave up in the face of stiff government opposition. He eventually gave the palace, its gardens and the estate to the Austrian government, on condition that a

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...

for former Rothschild employees be created with the proceeds, pegged to the pension scale for Austrian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

Demolition

In 1954, the palace was torn down. Any items of value that were still left, such as chandeliers,

woodwork Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...

and

fireplace A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

s, were sold off to the

Dorotheum The Dorotheum () is one of the world's oldest auction houses and is the largest auction house of art items in Continental Europe. Established by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, it has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and branches in ...

auction house at a minimal price, well below their actual value. The stairs and

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s of marble were sold to an Italian; the rest of the stone-work was simply destroyed, and the ornate iron fence and window

grillwork A grille or grill ( French word from Latin ''craticula'', small grill) is an opening of several slits side-by-side in a wall, metal sheet or another barrier, usually to allow air or water to enter and/or leave and prevent larger objects ( ...

were sold for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

. The richly gilded stucco was ripped down: efforts to reclaim the gold-leaf proved uneconomic. The large orchestrion was partly destroyed, though parts of it can be seen in the

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collectio ...

of the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

. The smaller orchestrion was also lost. The building itself was made out of such sturdy materials and sound construction that

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

had to be used to bring it down.

References

{{Authority control Rothschild Albert Rothschild family residences Buildings and structures in Wieden Demolished buildings and structures in Austria Buildings and structures demolished in 1954