Hernals and Währing

Architectural jewels to be removed due to access to the subway

Elterleinplatz 8: The Gründerzeit building (top) is to be removed, Markus Landerer (left) and Stephan Erath want to prevent this.(Bild: Gerhard Bartel)

Monument and cityscape conservationists in Vienna are appalled. Two historic buildings on Elterleinplatz and Währinger Gürtel are to be demolished to make way for subway station entrances.  

Vienna is proud of its historic architectural jewels. And they are normally better protected than new buildings. But they can be sacrificed for a "higher cause". But does that always have to be the case?

In the course of the U5 construction, the question is once again highly topical. A striking corner building on Elterleinplatz in the 17th district and a Wilhelminian-style ensemble at Währinger Gürtel 41 in the 18th district are to be removed - even though they are located in protected zones. This is because access to subway stations is planned there. The U5 will run to Elterleinplatz in the future - we reported. 

Cityscape and monument conservationists are alarmed. Instead of demolition, they are calling for the station buildings to be integrated into the existing historic buildings. There are examples of this. For example, the Volkstheater U3 station or the Karlsplatz U1 exit near the Bristol Hotel. They don't want to prevent the subway, but to connect old and new.

Markus Landerer (Initiative Denkmalschutz) and Stephan Erath have submitted a petition to the town hall.

Petition rejected
However, this was not approved. Reason: It had nothing to do with the city, Wiener Linien was legally independent. And as a transport company, they are backed by the Railway Act. In other words: public transport comes before aesthetics.

The conservationists consider this to be a pretext and believe that politicians could very well influence Wiener Linien. They will appeal against the rejection and start a new petition.