Steinhof Church, Vienna, Austria


  • Date
    7/20/2013 (creation)
Related person
Otto Wagner (architect)
Date
1903-1907 (creation);2000 (expansive restoration project began);2002-2004 (church façade was replaced with 3000 plates of Carrara marble);2005 (construction on interior began);2006 (reopened)
Location
Europe->Austria->Wien->Vienna
Description
When drafting his plans for the building, the commissioned architect, Otto Wagner, respected the church's role as the institutional chapel for mentally ill patients and consulted with doctors and nurses concerning the specific requirements of such a building. On October 8, 1907, the church was opened by Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Archduke and Wagner were at odds on a variety of issues, not least on the overall design of the church. The former had disapproved of Wagner's art nouveau style from the very beginning; so much so, in fact, that he refused to acknowledge Wagner during the opening ceremony or to commission any other work from the architect. But opinions regarding Wagner's unusual design were varied. In an article published in the New Free Press on October 6, 1907, the author rhetorically asked: "And is it not a beautiful irony of fate, that the first sensible secessionist building in Vienna has been built for the insane?"
Style/Period
1900s (1900 - 1909)