Palais Albert Rothschild
Encyclopedia
The Palais Albert Rothschild was a palatial house in Vienna
, one of five Palais Rothschild
in the city owned by members of the Rothschild banking family of Austria
.
This palace was commissioned by Baron Albert von Rothschild
and designed and built by the French architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur
between 1879 and 1884.
Situated at Prinz-Eugen-Straße 20-22, in the IV (Wieden
) district of Vienna
, the building itself was unusual for Vienna: designed in the French Neo-Renaissance
“hôtel particulier
” style, the layout was U-shaped, three storeys high and set back from the street by a courtyard, with the estate fenced off by a high iron grill
. Apparently as a child Baron Albert had lived in Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
's house in 1848, which would explain the palace's seclusion from the public. Attached to the palace was a garden which bordered on Plößlgasse.
The entrance hall was dominated by an enormous marble
staircase, the walls decorated with priceless gobelin
s, mirror
s and painting
s. The ballroom
and various salons had ceilings painted by Jean de Witt and Tiepolo
, and were richly decorated with stucco
, gold leaf
, and heavy hanging crystal chandeliers. The ornate parquet floors were made with expensive rare woods; the furniture was in the style of Louis-Seize.
A special feature was a large orchestrion
, built into a niche
between the ballroom and one of the salons; together with a smaller orchestrion, these two instruments could replace an entire orchestra
. In addition to being a private residence Baron Albert used it to conduct his banking business; its opulence was both a social and financial statement.
An unusual element of the building was the private observatory
, located in the middle projection (Mittelrisalit), reached by a small wooden staircase from the second floor.
After the Anschluß (Annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany, the Rothschild family was forced to flee and went into exile in England
. Almost immediately the Nazis turned their attention to the Rothschild art collections, the largest and most valuable Jewish-owned art collections in Austria. The treasures of Baron Louis Rothschild composed of painting
s, statue
s, furniture
s, book
s, armour
and coin
s, were all seized and removed from his house at Theresianumgasse, prior to the Gestapo
commandeering the building for its Vienna
headquarters.
Adolf Eichmann
moved into the palace and set up the infamous “Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung”, the "purpose" of which was to "organise" the emigration
of Jews from Austria. In fact its mission was to strip Austrian Jewish citizens of all money and possessions, holding them to ransom in exchange for the hope of receiving emigration permits. Often the permits were withheld even after all demands had been met, often guaranteeing the victims a one-way trip to a concentration camp.
Baron Albert von Rothschild was forced to sign a document giving his consent to the art collections' confiscation, plus the appropriation of all Rothschild assets in Austria by the German Government, in exchange for his brother's release from Dachau concentration camp and safe passage for them both out of Austria.
Elsewhere in Vienna other collections were confiscated and taken to a collection point for examination. In all 163 collections worth a total of 93 billion Reichsmark
(RM) were confiscatted. From this plunder 269 paintings of high value were picked out, of which 122 were later selected for considered by Hitler for inclusion in his planned museum in Linz
.
With the beginning of the “Endlösung” (Final Solution
) and the destruction of the Austrian Jewish Community, the Gestapo office for emigration ceased to function. Eichmann himself was transferred elsewhere to organise the deportation and murder of Jews in the concentration camps.
A postal and telegram office was set up in the palace itself. It was slightly damaged during the war. Though still standing and functional, by war's end Baron Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild found it in a state of total neglect
, its interior largely plundered by the Nazis.
In following years he tried to obtain compensation for his family's losses and the ruined Rothschild bank
from the Austrian government. At that time the government took the stance that Austria had been a victim of the war and therefore not responsible. Many bureaucrat
ic hurdles and much red tape
made it almost impossible for any surviving Austrian Jew to get their property back or receive any proper compensation. The Baron only received a small amount of compensation and finally gave up in face of stiff government opposition.
He gave the palace, the gardens and the estate to the Austrian Government, on condition that a pension fund
for former Rothschild employees be created with the proceeds, pegged to the pension scale for Austrian civil servants.
The palace was torn down. Anything of value still left, such as chandeliers, woodwork and fireplace
s, were sold off to the auction house Dorotheum
at a minimal price, well below their actual value. The stairs and pillar
s of marble were sold to an Italian
; the rest of the stone-work was simply destroyed, the ornate iron fence and window grillwork
sold for scrap
. The richly gilded stucco was ripped down: efforts to reclaim the gold-leaf proved uneconomic. The large orchestrion
was partly destroyed, though parts of it can be seen in the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
. The smaller orchestrion was also lost. The building itself was made out of such sturdy materials and sound construction that dynamite
had to be used to bring it down.
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, one of five Palais Rothschild
Palais Rothschild
Palais Rothschild refers to a number of palaces in Vienna, Austria, built and owned by the titled Austrian branch of the Rothschild banking family...
in the city owned by members of the Rothschild banking family of Austria
Rothschild banking family of Austria
The Rothschild banking family of Austria was founded by Salomon Mayer von Rothschild in 1820 in Vienna in what was then the Austrian Empire.-History:...
.
This palace was commissioned by Baron Albert von Rothschild
Albert Salomon von Rothschild
Albert Salomon von Rothschild was a banker in Austria-Hungary and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Businesses that he owned included Creditanstalt and the Northern Railway.-Personal life:...
and designed and built by the French architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur
Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur
Gabriel-Hippolyte Alexandre Destailleur was a renowned Neo-Renaissance French architect noted for his designs and restoration work for great châteaux in France and in England....
between 1879 and 1884.
Situated at Prinz-Eugen-Straße 20-22, in the IV (Wieden
Wieden
Wieden is the 4th municipal District of Vienna, Austria . It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later...
) district of Vienna
Districts of Vienna
The districts of Vienna are 23 named city sections of Vienna, Austria, which are also numbered for easy reference. For centuries, district boundaries have changed...
, the building itself was unusual for Vienna: designed in the French Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
“hôtel particulier
Hôtel particulier
In French contexts an hôtel particulier is an urban "private house" of a grand sort. Whereas an ordinary maison was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a street, an hôtel particulier was often free-standing, and by the 18th century it...
” style, the layout was U-shaped, three storeys high and set back from the street by a courtyard, with the estate fenced off by a high iron grill
Grillwork
Grillwork is decorative grating of metal, wood, stone, or other material used as a screen, divider, barrier, or as a purely decorative element. It may function as a window, either with or without glazing. Grillwork may also refer to grilles, decorative front ends of motor vehicles...
. Apparently as a child Baron Albert had lived in Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild
Salomon Mayer von Rothschild was a German-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Viennese branch of the prominent Mayer Amschel Rothschild family....
's house in 1848, which would explain the palace's seclusion from the public. Attached to the palace was a garden which bordered on Plößlgasse.
The entrance hall was dominated by an enormous 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...
staircase, the walls decorated with priceless gobelin
Gobelin
Gobelin was the name of a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, and who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre....
s, mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
s and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s. The ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
and various salons had ceilings painted by Jean de Witt and Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...
, and were richly decorated with stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
, gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
, and heavy hanging crystal chandeliers. The ornate parquet floors were made with expensive rare woods; the furniture was in the style of Louis-Seize.
A special feature was a large orchestrion
Orchestrion
An orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced...
, built into a niche
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
between the ballroom and one of the salons; together with a smaller orchestrion, these two instruments could replace an entire orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. In addition to being a private residence Baron Albert used it to conduct his banking business; its opulence was both a social and financial statement.
An unusual element of the building was the private observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
, located in the middle projection (Mittelrisalit), reached by a small wooden staircase from the second floor.
After the Anschluß (Annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany, the Rothschild family was forced to flee and went into exile in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Almost immediately the Nazis turned their attention to the Rothschild art collections, the largest and most valuable Jewish-owned art collections in Austria. The treasures of Baron Louis Rothschild composed of painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
s, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
s, book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, armour
Armour
Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an object, individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat, or from damage caused by a potentially dangerous environment or action...
and coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s, were all seized and removed from his house at Theresianumgasse, prior to the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
commandeering the building for its Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
headquarters.
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
moved into the palace and set up the infamous “Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung”, the "purpose" of which was to "organise" the emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
of Jews from Austria. In fact its mission was to strip Austrian Jewish citizens of all money and possessions, holding them to ransom in exchange for the hope of receiving emigration permits. Often the permits were withheld even after all demands had been met, often guaranteeing the victims a one-way trip to a concentration camp.
Baron Albert von Rothschild was forced to sign a document giving his consent to the art collections' confiscation, plus the appropriation of all Rothschild assets in Austria by the German Government, in exchange for his brother's release from Dachau concentration camp and safe passage for them both out of Austria.
Elsewhere in Vienna other collections were confiscated and taken to a collection point for examination. In all 163 collections worth a total of 93 billion Reichsmark
German reichsmark
The Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
(RM) were confiscatted. From this plunder 269 paintings of high value were picked out, of which 122 were later selected for considered by Hitler for inclusion in his planned museum in Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
.
With the beginning of the “Endlösung” (Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
) and the destruction of the Austrian Jewish Community, the Gestapo office for emigration ceased to function. Eichmann himself was transferred elsewhere to organise the deportation and murder of Jews in the concentration camps.
A postal and telegram office was set up in the palace itself. It was slightly damaged during the war. Though still standing and functional, by war's end Baron Louis Nathaniel de Rothschild found it in a state of total neglect
Neglect
Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a perpetrator is responsible to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for himself or herself, but fails to provide adequate care....
, its interior largely plundered by the Nazis.
In following years he tried to obtain compensation for his family's losses and the ruined Rothschild bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
from the Austrian government. At that time the government took the stance that Austria had been a victim of the war and therefore not responsible. Many bureaucrat
Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government or corporation...
ic hurdles and much red tape
Red tape
Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making...
made it almost impossible for any surviving Austrian Jew to get their property back or receive any proper compensation. The Baron only received a small amount of compensation and finally gave up in face of stiff government opposition.
He gave the palace, the gardens and the estate to the Austrian Government, on condition that a pension fund
Pension fund
A pension fund is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.Pension funds are important shareholders of listed and private companies. They are especially important to the stock market where large institutional investors dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold...
for former Rothschild employees be created with the proceeds, pegged to the pension scale for Austrian civil servants.
The palace was torn down. Anything of value still left, such as chandeliers, woodwork and fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
s, were sold off to the auction house Dorotheum
Dorotheum
The Dorotheum, established in 1707, is one of the world's oldest auction houses. It has its headquarters in Vienna on the Dorotheergasse and is the largest auction house in both Continental and German-speaking Europe. Besides auctions, the retail sector also plays a major role in Dorotheum's...
at a minimal price, well below their actual value. The stairs and pillar
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s of marble were sold to an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
; the rest of the stone-work was simply destroyed, the ornate iron fence and window grillwork
Grillwork
Grillwork is decorative grating of metal, wood, stone, or other material used as a screen, divider, barrier, or as a purely decorative element. It may function as a window, either with or without glazing. Grillwork may also refer to grilles, decorative front ends of motor vehicles...
sold for scrap
Scrap
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...
. The richly gilded stucco was ripped down: efforts to reclaim the gold-leaf proved uneconomic. The large orchestrion
Orchestrion
An orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced...
was partly destroyed, though parts of it can be seen in the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome...
. The smaller orchestrion was also lost. The building itself was made out of such sturdy materials and sound construction that dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
had to be used to bring it down.