Fin-De-Siecle country houses at semmering

Research project P 13959 Fin-de-siecle country houses at Semmering Mario SCHWARZ 24.01.2000 At about 188o the summit of Semmering between the provinces of Lower Austria and Styria along the railway between Vienna and Trieste developed as a favourite region for country-houses and villas, situated around the nucleus of the first Semmering-hotel, which had been founded by the railway-company of the "Suedbahn". At Fin- de-sigole this axtificial village became so famous as a resort of tourismg recreation and summer-vacation that it soon was praised as most fashionable rendez-vous of the upper class Viennese society. The semmering-region thus was called "Hoch Wien" ("High Vienna") or "the balcony of the Viennese". Initiator of a systematic projecting of country houses on this spot was Franz Schönthaler, at that time sculptor of the Imperial court at Vienna. Franz v.Neumann, renowned architect of Ringstrassepalaces in Vienna, created a specific architectural scheme for these summer-houses in combination of rough stone masonry and timberwork with modern measures for comfort as thermal insulation and optimum position of the building in the landscape scenery. The stylistic concept firstly came from the repertoire of Swiss Cottage architecture, which at that time already was of some international importance. Stepwise this style was influenced by examples of vernacular architecture in Western provinces of Austria as Salzburg and Tyrol. Because of its decorative details this style in literature so far has been called "Heimatstil", but the architects themselves soon opened their repertoire for new influences from "Art nouveau". The ensemble of villas of the Fin-de-siecle at Semmering comprises about 50 objects, among them major works of famous architects as Franz von Neumann, Gustav von Neumann, Josef Buendsdorf, Ferdinand Fellner & Hermann Helmer, Franz von Krauss, Josef Toelk and Paul Engelmann ( a disciple of Adolf Loos, who designed the astounding modern house Wittgenstein in Vienna). The Semmering-villas represent a broad variety in form, design and stylistic qualities from late historism to variations of Art nouveau or Style Liberty, baroque-revival up to early modern style. The contractors of the buildings belonged to the most renowned groups of the bourgeois society of Vienna, as the industry owners Mautner von Markhof, the journalist and sports pioneer Victor Silberer as well as to the old aristocracy of the Hapsburg Empire as Prince Johann II. von Liechtenstein. The villas resembled the life style of this--social group outside the capital Vienna and rev6al a different form of self-representation but also of vacational privacy than it was usual in the residence of the monarchi. Aim of this scientific project is, to investigate the history of the planning and design of these about 50 villas at Semmering and to set up a detailed documentation of the preserved architectural substance. At the same time the stylistic "roots" of this characteristic group should be detected and elucidated, especially in comparison or in contrast with other works of the same architects. Thus will create -a more differentiated picture of the phenomenon of "Schweizerhaus"- style or "Heimatstil", which so far appeared too unclear and nebulous. Of major importance was the beginning of scientific interest on vernacular art and architecture from late l9th century on, which aparently had much influence on the development of the specific Semmering-architecture.

Even some decades after the opening of the railway from Vienna to Trieste (1854) the summit of the Semmering was nearly uninhabited, there existed only the railway-station, a local inn and some farm-houses. In 1879 the railway-company "Suedbahn-Gesellschaft" bought a large real estate by intercession of Franz Schoenthaler, a sculptor-artist famous in Vienna`s noble society. The company began to build a large hotel and thus started the regular touristic exploitation of the beautiful mountain region. In 1881 the first villas were erected in the neighbourhood of the hotel by Josef Daum, but these buildings brought no novelties in style compared with conservative cottages in the surroundings of Vienna. A distinct progress came with Schoenthaler`s own house, which was designed by architect Franz von Neumann copying formal and constructive details of Swiss farm- houses from the province of the "Berner Mittelland". Franz Neumann and his brother Gustav, who built the parsonage and the sanatorium "Marienhof" at the Semmering, took advantage of Ernst Georg Glasbach`s publication "Der Schweizer Holzstyl" from 1868, adopting patterns of Swiss rural architecture. When Franz Neumann started to build the house for his own family in 1894, he for the first time copied forms and details of Austrian farm-houses from Tyrol (Lower Inn-valley). Franz and Gustav Neumann sticked to the mode of Strict Historism only to use patterns of a certain regional style. On the contrary other architects, as Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, used to mix formal details from different regions in the sense of Late Historism, and by this way created new complex solutions. A peculiar little group of Semmering-villas shows different, urban forms of Late Historism, but however of finest quality. The result of this research-project gave proof that the ensemble of villas at the Semmering as a homogenous colony of buildings in vernacular style deriving from Swiss and Austrian farmhouse-architecture is unique in Europe. Different denominations of this style, as "Laubsäge-, Fachwerk-, Veranden-, Schweizerhaus- or Heimatstil" were rejected, as this architecture in fact is a special branch of Historism with special amplification from classic styles to folklore. At the same time just the same architects as Franz and Gustav Neumann, Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, Josef Buendsdorf and Josph Urban played an important role in contemporary Viennese architecture of the late "Ringstrasse"-era. During the research-work in a catalogue 46 villas were thoroughly investigated and analyzed concerning their building-history and their formal qualities. All buildings of the "fin-de-siècle"-era, including also the demolished villas, were documented by historical photographs collected from archives and private owners. As a major result a synoptical stylistic analysis is given, which also includes sociological studies of the historical "Semmering- society", the network of owners, builders, architects and businessmen. Unforeseen difficulties arose just at the beginning of the research-work, when the authorities of the Semmering-community refused to open the files of the building-commission without written permissions of each present owner of the object in question. This required wearisome correspondence but finally in most cases led to success. The research-work produced a surprisingly detailed picture of social life on Semmering during the last decade of l9th century and the years before the First World War and gave insight in the close relations between the builders and owners of the villas and the progress of the railway-company "Suedbahn-Gesellschaft".