Otto Wagner, Viennese Architect
Wagner was one of the most important Viennese Architects who designed and built buildings not only in Vienna but also in other parts of Europe under the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) Era. He also designed furnitures. All his works, buildings were aesthetically designed which were unique and colorful. He was an urban planner until his death in 1918. He built so many famous buildings in Vienna according to his concept and perspective, although some were controversial designs, they were accepted with skepticism. Despite the controversy of his designs and its practicality, his buildings were considered unique and famous.
The Jugendstil Pavilion (Art Nouveau)- Karlsplatz, Vienna
One of the best known constructions of Otto Wagner was the Art Nouveau Pavilion on Karlsplatz that had been built in 1898. These two structures were his best examples of the Art Nouveau construction in that era. The woods were painted green and he used white marble on the exterior and adding to the design… he used a lot of trimmings on the roof as well as murals painted on the walls using sunflower design. Even the entrance doors were made from cast irons with the Jugendstil design and were painted green.
The Pavilion consisted of two buildings, one is now an underground station connecting to the Karlsplatz 200 meter-Passage with shops and various underground exits to other parts of the city. The other part of the Pavilion is called Café Karl Otto with the same architectural style. The Cafe is still being maintained and being rented out to cater to the plaza visitors.
The Karlsplatz Pavilion served as a station for The Vienna Stadtbahn that was established as a rail-based public transportation system in the city until the modern underground rail system was introduced by Wiener Linien.
No matter how this underground Station is preserved, vandalism is always present. This was not the case before since the youths here love their heritage. Every now and then migrant youths are seen doing such vandalism and that is pretty sad.
Demolition of the Pavilion
With the modernization of the Karlsplatz underground rail system, the Pavilion was demolished in 1960 to give way to the modern underground train facility. But there were several protests on the issues of the demolition and in 1977, the building was restored and became one of the exits of the Karlsplatz station which pave way to a shorter walk to the plaza of the Karlskirche.
The West side of the Pavilion serves as the Museum that showcase the work of Otto Wagner, his vision as well as the construction of his revolutionary designs.
Details of the beautiful decorative designs and trimmings of the building´s roof
Two Otto Wagner works in the Wollzeile, 6th District of Vienna
That´s it for today. I hope you like the style of architecture built during the era of Art Nouveau that was revolutionized by Otto Wagner and his Secession Movement in the city. If you would like to check on Otto Wagner´s works you can have a sneak preview via Google here.
