Modern architecture in Salzburg

Cycle 1 : 1900-1940

That Salzburg is a modern city often gets overshadowed by its baroque charme. But what does it even mean – modern?

In architectural history, modernism began around 1900 with Art Nouveau, which for the first time broke with centuries-old decorative norms, before the New Building movement completely dispensed with architectural ornamentation. However, fundamental aspects such as housing itself were also put to the test. This applied to the single-family home and the villa. Furthermore, new housing forms such as the housing estate were developed, which in Salzburg remained conservative in their outward appearance until the Second World War. Increasing motorization demanded a different infrastructure and created building projects such as the garage. New materials enabled bold, previously unknown solutions. Neon signs changed the appearance of the city at night. Even dying changed. It evolved from a religious to a communal matter. Cremation emerged as an alternative form of burial and required appropriate facilities. Modernism, therefore, is not a term specific to a specific era. It is a question of attitude.

Here you will find 10 examples of modern architecture in Salzburg, all buildings were built between 1900 and 1940.

Photographs: Hubert Auer

Villa Schall, 1900

In the 1860s, the regulation of the Salzach River began, opening up building land on both sides of the river. Originally built as an urban country villa and still located on the outskirts of the city at the time of construction, Haus Schall today stands at the bend of a major thoroughfare. The name commemorates its client, cement works director Eugen Schall, who commissioned Jakob Ceconi, a master builder and architect who worked extensively in Salzburg. Schall himself envisioned decorative forms inspired by Roman antiquity. This is evidenced by the winged lion on either side of the entrance portal. His wife, however, was a devotee of Art Nouveau, which, despite extensive renovations, is also evident in the decorations, such as the window grilles and canopies. The main entrance, with its boldly curved canopy, marks the main elevation of the villa, which faces Basteigasse instead of the Salzach River. Only from this corner location does the landscape-inspired concept of the building, composed of different volumes and open with a variety of window shapes, become apparent. This impression has been reinforced rather than diminished by the addition of additional floors, the conversion of the attic, and other alterations and extensions.

Mozartsteg, 1903

The Mozartsteg, built in Art Nouveau style, connects the quayside district on the old town side with the Inner Stein district on the opposite bank of the Salzach. The first idea for a bridge between the Staatsbrücke and Karolinenbrücke bridges arose in 1897, but was rejected by the local council. The founding of the Second Salzach Iron Bridge Association made it possible to build it. However, tolls were required to finance it until the 1920s. The toll booth still stands. Today, it houses a small café. Constructed of riveted iron framework painted a blue-gray, the bridge swings over the river in three light, flat arches. It rests on two massive pillars that taper towards the top and are clad with conglomerate slabs. Distinctive features such as the entrance and exit points and the points of contact between the separately supported arched structures are sparingly decorated with plant ornamentation, typical of Art Nouveau. Soon after the Mozartsteg, two more Salzach crossings with similar decorative forms were built in Salzburg, but they have not been preserved.

Residential and commercial buildings: Haus Ostermeier, Haus Pötzl, 1910-1912

Conceived as apartment buildings for a class of self-employed individuals, civil servants, and higher-level employees, these two Ceconi houses and their neighboring buildings formed the compact end of the then newly settled Elisabeth-Vorstadt. Particularly attractive due to their proximity to the train station, inaugurated in 1861, and a wide pedestrian area, these prestigious residential buildings enhanced the social status of the suburbs as a whole. They testify to an urban spatial structure understood as modern, extending into the outskirts. With identical floor heights, the base cladding, the undulating comb-stitch plaster of the raised ground floors, and the almost seamless transition of the cornices, the two buildings almost connect to form a continuous complex. The ornamentation reflects the move toward a regionally distinctive Art Nouveau style, which sought to distance itself from Habsburg-imperialist norms. The most striking difference can be found in the upper finishes: While the Pötzl House forms a kind of monumental dormer with a curved finish above two high bay windows and a continuous eaves, the Ostermaier House develops a so-called station gable from a smooth facade.

Former printing and publishing building Kiesel, 1924-1926

1924-1926

The Kiesel Building is considered a key work of Salzburg Modernism. Its name comes from the Kiesel publishing house, which was located here until 1980 and was built in contradiction to the 1921 development plan, which envisioned a purely residential area in the style of a garden city. The well-preserved front facing the city center curves concavely and is further emphasized by floor-to-floor recesses with white cornices. Above it is a bay window that extends below the cranked roof cornice. The main entrance, in turn, is reached via a far-reaching, altar-like porch. The architectural sculpture further enhances the spectacular impression: the winged horse Pegasus rises above the entrance, with “R. Kiesel” and the construction date “1926” inscribed above it, and two male nudes stand on the roof. The stairwell bay windows on the more discreetly structured sides are decorated with reliefs depicting fauna, flora, the zodiac signs, and scenes from the printing industry. The bay windows also mark the end of the old building, as the renovations carried out by Wilhelm Holzbauer between 1987 and 1989 significantly changed the station side in particular.

Salzburger Autopalast, 1928

Although the infrastructure in the city and province of Salzburg remained sobering until the 1920s, with dilapidated roads and a lack of gas stations and repair shops, the number of registrations steadily increased. This made the automobile the initiator of a new building type: the multi-story garage. Haulier Friedrich Gruber got rid of all his horses and had the Salzburg Autopalast built in stages, which was intended to accommodate 400 vehicles in the long run. The strictly structured building is rhythmically structured by three risalits. Continuous elements such as cornices and the closely spaced metal mullioned windows reinforce the impression of the horizontal. The corner situation varies this with narrow, tall, rectangular windows and grilled recesses on the ground floor, which formally evokes the shape of a screw nut. A clear formal language and an emphasis on horizontal lines are hallmarks of the New Building style. The latter, despite its angularity and massiveness, is reminiscent of streamlined modernism – that is, the elongated horizontal lines reflect the speed of moving cars in the façade, thus establishing a correspondence between the use of the building and the street space.

Former police barracke, 1929-1931

Not least because of the view of Nonnberg Abbey, Deininger designed the former police barracks as a broad cube with a flat roof. Clearly committed to the New Building movement, there were several changes: A partial extension with a high hipped roof by Helmut Gasteiner made the building more massive than originally intended – at least the roof was removed. In 2001, the HALLE 1 architectural firm added a narrow exposed concrete structure to the south side. From the opposite bank of the Salzach, the building’s horizontal orientation is clearly visible thanks to the wide bands in the parapet area, the squat window formats, and their cross-muntins. From the Karolinenbrücke, the building appears considerably lighter due to its projections and transverse openings. In front of the main facade facing the courthouse, the present-day Salzburg District Court forms a narrow forecourt. In addition to the cubic volume, bands, and flat roof, the balcony railing made of horizontal metal strips is another distinguishing feature of the modern design. The pilaster-like vertical structure of the extension and the volute pillars at the main passage, on the other hand, are (final) reminiscences of historicizing construction.

Feuerhalle, 1930-1931

The crematorium at the municipal cemetery is one of the most radical buildings of the New Building movement in Salzburg. Inaugurated on November 8, 1931, the structure rose as a four-tiered pyramid with narrow windows and a widely projecting canopy. The building owes its present appearance to several additions since the 1950s. From the mid-19th century, enlightened circles throughout Europe advocated cremation; the first cremation houses were built in Milan in 1876 and in Gotha in 1878. In Austria, this did not happen until after 1920 – despite or because of the persistent resistance of the Catholic Church. The question of what form a crematorium should take was also debated, with the combination of technical requirements with the need for reverent solemnity considered a design challenge. There was disagreement, not least, about how functional or traditional such a building should be. Clemens Holzmeister’s Feuerhalle in Vienna-Simmering from 1922 and Julius Schulte’s crematorium in Linz from 1929 could have served as models for Salzburg. However, especially in comparison to Holzmeister, it becomes clear how secular and therefore modern Wiedenmann’s design was and still is today.

Residential building Herzog, 1931

The “Göbelbehausung” (Göbel House) owes its nickname to a dilapidated farmhouse that was demolished in 1928. Facing the old town, the new building is divided into three clear cubes: the protruding staircase in the center, and two residential wings of varying heights to the right and left. The two balconies on the left end at square points, the three on the right at a quarter-round. At the entrance is a pillar with cladding that is partly smooth, partly in relief. The cast concrete reliefs depict construction workers, whose geometries are reminiscent of Kazimir Malevich or Oskar Schlemmer. Alfred Diener studied under Josef Hoffmann, co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte, and with his design for the Herzog House, he embraced what is now referred to as “classical” modernism. The strict basic forms, the planar façade, the flat roof, and the steamer motif echoed in the rounded balconies are indebted to the design principles of the Neues Bauen (New Building). What’s more, their harmonious composition makes the Herzog House one of the most consistent achievements of modern architecture in Salzburg. After the Second World War, Diener considered himself a traditionalist. Looking back, he is said to have described the Herzog family as a “youthful sin.”

House Weidlich, 1932

The initial client and namesake of the Weidlich House considered it important to incorporate modernist stylistic elements, which, according to architectural critic Franz Achleitner, spurred master builder Hans Kronberger to a “minor stroke of genius.” This first building already featured an interplay of austere cubes, lightened by a semicircular extension and corner windows. The first redesign was carried out in 1964 by Hans Hofmann. Since the 1980s, the building has been owned by Waltraud and Mario Mauroner, who run an art gallery and also undertook renovations: First, Eberhard Jodlbauer added a bedroom extension with a terrace and garage to the north side, and a spiral staircase connects the gallery spaces. The expansive garden provides space for large-scale sculptures. Most recently, Reiner Kaschl raised the roof and created a spacious roof terrace. The building’s stepped form, which faces the street, is strikingly reminiscent of Adolf Loos’s Scheu House in Vienna. However, this similarity was not present from the beginning, but results from the successive extensions and reconstructions.

Wiener Städtische Versicherung, 1932-1933

The circular Max-Ott-Platz square was created as part of the urban development changes that began in the 1860s. Here, the Salzburg branch of the Wiener Städtische Versicherungen (Vienna Municipal Insurance Company) stands in a prominent corner position. The towering, concave facade is dominated by a narrow, strongly framed slit with a staircase behind it. To the right and left of this, four balconies each span the wings of the building, which run along the streets and are reduced by one story at the outside. The transverse rectangular windows emphasize the horizontal nature of the symmetrically arranged building elements, thus counterbalancing the pointed verticality of the square’s elevation. To the left and right of the striking incision, at first-floor level, stand two somewhat larger-than-life, slender bronze sculptures. The man in a loincloth, holding a sapling, and a spade, and the woman in a simple dress and a child in her arms, can be understood as personifications of provision and care. This traditional gender image seems to break with the modernity of the architecture, but thematically fits the mission statement of an insurance company.

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