Social Housing - Reumannhof
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Location number: 1050005
Gemeindebau
Innenhof
Lift
Stiege
Stiegenhaus
Wohnhausanlage
1920er
Innen- & Außenbereich
Lift
The Reumann-Hof, designed by Hubert Gessner, comprises 460 apartments and 30 shops and was intended as a symbol of the new Vienna; it opened in 1926 as the first completed building of Vienna’s social housing program. During the Austrian Civil War in February 1934, it served as a main stronghold of the Republican Protection League and was occupied by police forces after heavy fighting, and it was later damaged by bombing during the Second World War. Architecturally, the Reumann-Hof is a monumental residential complex with an elevated central section, reflecting the metropolitan design principles of Otto Wagner. Its focal point is the “Court of Honour” with a reflecting pool, while the façade combines Czech-Slovak Cubist elements with French-influenced rounded roof forms, creating a unified work of architecture, painting, and sculpture. Numerous majolica panels decorate the entrance arches and symbolically depict various crafts, and one of the reduced number of stone sculptures shows “Playing Children” at the entrance to the kindergarten. Jakob Reumann (1853–1925), Vienna’s first Social Democratic mayor from 1919, laid the foundations of Vienna’s social housing through building code reforms and the large-scale housing program launched in 1923.
