Café Sperl is a traditional Viennese cafe

Viennese café

The Viennese Coffee House is a typical institution of Vienna that played an important part shaping Viennese culture.Since October 2011 the "Viennese Coffee House Culture" is listed as "Intangible Cultural Heritage" in the Austrian inventory of the "National Agency for the Intangible Cultural...

. It is on the Austrian register of historic places and is to be found on the Gumpendorfer Straße in Vienna's 6th district Mariahilf

Mariahilf

Mariahilf is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria . It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings....

.

History

It was opened in 1880 by Jacob Ronacher as Café Ronacher in the corner building on the boundaries of Gumpendorfer Straße and the Lehargasse. The cafe decor is reminiscent of the Ringstraßen-Cafés with parquet floors, chairs by Michael Thonet

Michael Thonet

Michael Thonet was a German-Austrian cabinet maker.Thonet was the son of master tanner Franz Anton Thonet of Boppard. Following a carpenter's apprenticeship, Thonet set himself up as an independent cabinetmaker in 1819. A year later, he married Anna Grahs, with whom he had seven sons and six...

, marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 tables, crystal chandeliers and carambole billiards

Carambole billiards

Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole , is the overarching title of a family of billiards games generally played on cloth-covered, 5 by 10 feet pocketless tables, which often feature heated slate...

 tables. It was designed and decorated by the architects Wilhelm Jelinek and Anton Groß. Within the first year of operations, Ronacher sold the business to the Sperl family, who continued the business under the name Café Sperl . In 1884 ownership passed to Adolf Kratochwilla, who retained the cafe's name.

Prior to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the primary clientele was composed of an interesting mixture of artists- including authors, artists, architects, composers, musicians and actors – and military functionaries from the nearby Imperial and Royal (k.u.k) military academy

Military academy

A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...

, including the future Chief of Staff

Chief of Staff

The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...

 of the Austro-Hungarian Army

Austro-Hungarian Army

The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...

 Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf and Archduke

Archduke

The title of Archduke denotes a noble rank above Duke and below King, used only by princes of the Houses of Habsburg and Habsburg-Lorraine....

 Joseph Ferdinand.

In 1968 Manfred Staub bought the cafe from the Kratochwillas and renovated the cafe in 1983. In recent years the Cafe Sperl has won several commendations. These include "Austrian Cafe of the Year" (German:Österreichischen Kaffeehaus des Jahres) in 1998 and, in 2004, the Goldene Kaffeebohne (English: Golden Coffee Bean). More contemporary regulars have included the authors Jörg Mauthe, Robert Menasse

Robert Menasse

Robert Menasse is an Austrian writer.As an undergraduate, Menasse studied in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesis "Der Typus des Außenseiters im Literaturbetrieb...

 and Michael Köhlmeier

Michael Köhlmeier

Michael Köhlmeier is a contemporary Austrian writer and musician.He studied Politics and German at the University of Marburg, Germany, and Mathematics and Philosophy at the universities in Giessen and Frankfurt, Germany...

.

In popular media

Café Sperl was featured in the 1995 movie Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise

Before Sunrise is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The film follows Jesse , a young American, and Céline , a young French woman, who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, where they spend the night walking around the city and...

, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in main roles. In 2011, the interiors of the café were used in the movie A Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method

A Dangerous Method is a 2011 historical film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel...

, which featured Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender.

Literature

• Felix Czeike: Historisches Lexikon Wien. Band 1. Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Wien 1992, ISBN 978-3-218-00543-2, S. 541.
• Hans Veigl: Wiener Kaffeehausführer. Kremayr und Scheriau, Wien 1994, ISBN 978-3-218-00587-6.