Margareten#

Margareten, 5th district of Vienna, area 2.03 km2, pop. 51,521 (1991). Margareten came into being when parts of the 4th district ( Wieden) were partitioned off in 1861. It consists of the following parts: Margareten (originally referred to an isolated farmstead with a chapel dedicated to St. Margaret; first documented mention in 1373), Matzleinsdorf (first documented in 1136, derived its name from the name of its founder Mazilo), Hundsturm (or Hunczmuehle, existed from 1408, manor, hunting grounds and vineyards in the 17th century), Laurenzergrund (founded in the second part of the 16th century), Nikolsdorf (village established along main road between 1555 and 1568) and Reinprechtsdorf (first documented in 1270). During the 19th century Margareten developed into a residential area for the lower middle class, but was increasingly settled by blue collar workers from the beginning of the Industrial Age. Since then its territory has been entirely urbanized, with council houses being set up along the Guertel ring-road (today´s beltway which was then derogatorily called "boulevard of the proletariat") in the period between the two wars. Through both the regulation of the River Wien (1895-1903) and the building of an urban railway (by O. Wagner between 1895 and 1903, adapted to the standards of the underground line U4 in 1980; stops at Kettenbrueckengasse, Pilgramgasse and Margaretenguertel) the Wien Valley experienced an immense boom, which led to the building of middle-class housing estates along the riverside. During World War II the 5th district was heavily bombed. In the period of reconstruction council housing became increasingly important.

Housing estates: Margareten Building (1884, by F. Fellner and H. Helmer); Council houses: Reumann Building (1924-1926 by H. Gessner), Julius-Ofner Building (1926-1927, by E. Lichtblau), Julius-Popp Building (1925-1926), Herwegh Building (1926-1927), Metzleinstal Building (1919-1920, planned by R. Kalesa, the first housing estate of Socialist Vienna, enlarged by H. Gessner between 1923 and 1924), Franz-Domes Building (1928-1930, by P. Behrens), Matteotti Building (1926-1927), Theodor-Koerner Building (housing estate, 1952-1953, including the first multistorey building in Vienna, 1957); housing estates in Einsiedlergasse (1983, 1988, by H. Tesar). - Hartmann Hospital; former job centre for metal and timber workers (1930); former publishing company "Vorwaerts" (1907, by H. and F. Gessner, in 1987 the building became part of a hotel); one of the remainders of suburban culture, the Filmcasino Cinema (1912) was restored in 1989; today it is an "alternative" cinema showing non-commercial films; Austrian Museum for Economic and Social Affairs; adult education centre. - Main traffic routes: Rechte Wienzeile, Schoenbrunner Strasse, Margareten Strasse upper part of Wiedner Hauptstrasse, Reinprechtsdorfer Strasse, Margaretenguertel. - Parish church St. Florian built in Matzleinsdorf in 1963.

Literature#