Austria Classic Hotel Wien

Austria Classic Hotel Wien
General information
Location	Praterstraße 72, Vienna, Austria
Opening	1838
Owner	Reinhard Blumauer Ines Pietsch (Manager) Ingeborg Seitz (Director)
Design and construction
Developer	Josef Scheiflinger
Other information
Number of rooms	81
Website
www.classic-hotelwien.at

The Austria Classic Hotel Wien is a three-star hotel, located on Praterstraße in Vienna's second district, the Leopoldstadt. It is a member of the Austria Classic Hotels group and was named Hotel Nordbahn until a rebranding in January 2008.

History

The building Zum schwarzen Tor on Praterstraße Nr.72 (named Jägerzeile until 1862) was completed in 1808. It originally served as residential house for a Peter Danhauser and only comprised two floors. In 1838, one year after Austria's first steam railway, the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway (German: Kaiser Ferdinands-Nordbahn, KFNB; Czech: Severní dráha císaře Ferdinanda, SDCF), had opened and the first station building of the k.k. Nordbahnhof (Vienna North Station) on Nordbahnstraße was inaugurated, the existing building was extended by one floor and established as Hotel Nordbahn,^[1] as due to the increasing international traffic touristic accommodation needs increased accordingly.

From 1843 to 1849 further extensions and adaptations were undertaken by hotel owner Josef Scheiflinger. Since that time the hotel has remained a family property.

From 1944 to 1945, the building was partially destroyed in World War II and was under Soviet administration until 1955. After the Allied Occupation of Austria, the hotel management was restored to Kommerzialrat Felix Scheiflinger, who had succeeded his father Josef Scheiflinger in 1908. In 1961, the management came to Erika Blumauer, Felix Scheiflinger's daughter, who modernised the house and passes management to her son Reinhard Blumauer in 1973.

Prior to the inauguration of the new Wien Praterstern railway station (before Bahnhof Wien Nord, before Bahnhof Praterstern, originally k.k. Nordbahnhof) the Hotel Nordbahn undertook a rebranding in its 170th year of existence and was renamed Austria Classic Hotel Wien by 1 January 2008.^[2] The latest change of management occurred in 2010 when Reinhard Blumauer passed management on to his daughter Ines Pietsch, who thereby "became one of the youngest hotel managers of Austria".^[3]

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  Praterstraße and Hotel Nordbahn before 1898

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  Hotel Nordbahn about 1910

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  Hotel Nordbahn and the Dogenhof in 1928

Notable Guests

• The Austro-American composer and film score composition pioneer Max Steiner was born on the 10th of May 1888 in Hotel Nordbahn as Maximilian Raoul Steiner. At his time Steiner was one of the best-known composers in Hollywood. Sometimes referred to as "the father of film music",^[4] Steiner is widely regarded today as one of the greatest film score composers in the history of cinema. Steiner composed hundreds of film scores, amongst those Casablanca, Gone with the Wind and King Kong.^[5] On the occasion of Max Steiner's 100th birthday a commemorative plaque was revealed at the hotel by owner Reinhard Blumauer, Bezirksvorsteher (head of district) Heinz Weißmann and Viennese mayor Helmut Zilk.^[6]
• Fine artist and playwright Stanisław Wyspiański, a Polish member of the Vienna Secession, resided in Hotel Nordbahn in summer 1904, en route from convalescent care in Bad Hall to his hometown Krakau.^[7] Since 1996 a plaque on the facade of the hotel commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Österreichisch-Polnische Gesellschaft (Austrian-Polish Society) and Wyspiański's frequent stays at the Hotel, where amongst others he wrote his German dramatic fragment "Weimar 1829".^[8]

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  Commemorative plaque for Stanisław Wyspiański (since 1996)

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  Commemorative plaque for Max Steiner (since 1988)

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  Unveiling the Max Steiner-plaque (f.l. R. Blumauer, H. Weißmann, H. Zilk)

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  Both commemorative plaques at the hotel's facade

Notes

Literature

Referencing Literature:

• Hermann Bahr (Hg.): Briefe von Josef Kainz. Wien: Rikola Verlag, 1922
• Helga Gibs: Leopoldstadt: kleine Welt am grossen Strom. Wien: Mohl, 1997, S.67, ISBN 3-900272-54-9
• Albert Paris Gütersloh: Die tanzende Törin: Roman. München: Langen-Müller, 1973
• Cilly Kugelmann, Hanno Loewy: So einfach war das: jüdische Kindheit und Jugend in Deutschland seit 1945. Zeitzeugnisse aus dem Jüdischen Museum Berlin. Köln: DuMont 2002
• Allan H. Mankoff: Mankoff's lusty Europe: the first all-purpose European guide to sex, love and romance. New York City: Viking Press, 1972
• Franz Julius Schneeberger: Banditen im Franck: Politisch-socialer Roman aus der Gegenwart. Von A. v. S. Band 2, Wien, Pest, Leipzig: A. Hartleben, 1867
• Siegfried Weyr: Wien: Magie der Inneren Stadt. Band 1 von Eine Stadt erzählt. Wien: Zsolnay, 1968

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Austria Classic Hotel Wien.

• Austria Classic Hotel Wien

Coordinates: 48°13′1.37″N 16°23′22.2″E / 48.2170472°N 16.389500°E / 48.2170472; 16.389500