Social Housing - Reismannhof
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Location number: 1120004
Municipal Housing
Courtyard
Staircase
Housing Complex
1920s
Indoors & Outdoors
The so-called Reismannhof comprises the streets Am Fuchsenfeld, Längenfeldgasse, Rizygasse, and Karl-Löwe-Gasse and is among the earliest municipal housing projects of Red Vienna. The residential complex, which was renamed Reismannhof in 1949, is one of a total of eight so-called superblocks built by the City of Vienna during the interwar period. Together with the Fuchsenfeldhof housing complex, constructed in 1922, the Reismannhof forms a coherent residential district with approximately 1,100 apartments, numerous shops, and social facilities. The entire complex was designed by the architectural firm Schmid & Aichinger and built in three phases between 1922 and 1925, with the Reismannhof representing the third stage of development of the Fuchsenfeld area. The diagonally aligned streets Rizygasse and Karl-Löwe-Gasse resulted in acute-angled, small-scale plots, which Heinrich Schmid and Hermann Aichinger unified into a cohesive building complex. Through curved transitions, five radially arranged garden courtyards with a total of 35 staircases were created, each opening toward neighboring courtyards, adjacent streets, or a plaza-like intersection. The central square, “Am Fuchsenfeld,” is emphasized by tower-like corner buildings and is accessed via large round-arched passageways as well as pedestrian arcades. The stepped building heights respond to the topography and ensure effective ventilation and natural daylighting of the apartments. Variations in building height, polygonal bay windows, small oriel towers, and diverse façade designs give the complex a highly varied appearance. Shops, social institutions, and distinctive architectural elements lend the ensemble a small-town character, which served as a model for later housing projects such as the Rabenhof and the Matteottihof. Originally, the housing complex was called “Am Fuchsenfeld,” named after the field name, which likely derived from the former inn "Zum Fuchsen". After wartime bomb damage had been repaired, it was renamed Reismannhof on 11 September 1949 in honor of the Social Democratic politician Edmund Reismann, who was murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp.
