Palais Todesco, Renaissance Revival palace in Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria
Palais Todesco is a Ringstrasse palace on Kärntner Straße 51, facing the Vienna State Opera on the site of the old Kärntner Tor. Ludwig Förster designed it and Theophil von Hansen handled the interiors; it was built from 1861 to 1864 for Baron Eduard von Todesco. The facade is symmetrical, with a central balcony between two corner bay windows.
Palais Todesco was built from 1861 to 1864 for Baron Eduard von Todesco, with plans by Ludwig Förster and interiors by Theophil von Hansen, on the site of the old Kärntner Tor opposite the Opera. The Jewish families Todesco and von Lieben lived there until the Nazi persecution after the 1938 Anschluss; the building had already been sold in 1935 to the insurance company later known as Uniqa. From 1947 to 1993 it housed the headquarters of the Austrian People's Party.
Baroness Sophie von Todesco hosted gatherings where artists and musicians including Johann Strauss and Henrik Ibsen spent time during the 1800s. These meetings were part of Vienna's social and artistic life at that time.
Palais Todesco stands at Kärntner Straße 51, directly opposite the Vienna State Opera, on the site of the old Kärntner Tor gate. The building is not open to the public as a museum; visitors see it from the street while walking the Ringstraße and Kärntner Straße.
Eduard Sacher rented the ground-floor rooms of the newly finished palace for his delicatessen shop and restaurant, a venture that preceded his later hotel. During the monarchy the court supplier P. & C. Habig kept a branch on the ground floor. The building was sold in 1935 to the insurance institution that became Uniqa.
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