Josefstadt#

Josefstadt, 8th  district of Vienna, area 1.08 km2, in area the smallest and in population the second-smallest (pop. 23,850: 1.5 % of the total population in 1991) district of Vienna (after the 1st  district). Named in honour of Emperor Joseph I (coronation 1690). In the course of urban development the inner suburbs of Breitenfeld, Strozzigrund, Josefstadt, and parts of St. Ulrich, Lerchenfeld and Alservorstadt were incorporated into Vienna´s 7th district (re-numbered as 8th district in 1861). Settlement began around 1700, favoured by the nobility for summer residences; today a typical residential district with a large number of patrician houses built before 1919, some of them from the Biedermeier and historicism periods. Baroque suburban residences (one of the finest is "Zur heiligen Dreifaltigkeit"/Alte Backstube, 1697).

Palaces: Strozzi Palace (from 1698/1699 and during the 18th  century numerous renovations, today tax office building), Auersperg Palace, Schoenborn Palace(1706-1711 by J. L. von Hildebrandt, 1725 enlarged, today Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art (Oesterreichisches Museum fuer Volkskunde), Damian Palace (1700, central part enlarged and renovated in 1774 by M. Gerl, today headquarters of the Austrian War Victims´ Association for Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland). Weissspanierkirche church (Trinitarian church, 1694-1727, since 1784 Franciscan); Piaristenkirche (church of the Piarist Order, built 1716, probably according to plans drawn up by J. L. von Hildebrandt, master builder Franz Jaenggl, altarpieces by F. A. Maulbertsch, K. Rahl and others; frescoes, early major works done in Vienna by F. A. Maulbertsch, main dome 1752); Piaristenkloster (monastery built between 1698 and the mid-18th  century); Federal Office of Weights, Measures, and Surveying up to 1983), formerly Military Geographic Institute (1840-1842, upper floors added 1870-1871); District Courts I (enlarged 1839 and 1906) and II (1908); Theater in der Josefstadt; Handelsakademie (commercial secondary school, opened 1908); Bakers´ Guild building (built 1766, acquired 1893); Haus der Wiener Jugend (Vienna Youth House); administration building of the Vienna Gasworks (1909-1910); Melkerhof (large housing complex built during the early Age of Promotorism or "Gruenderzeit"). - Residential area interspersed with office buildings, doctors´ and lawyers´ offices, restaurants and bars; small number of industrial firms and businesses.

Literature#