Indianerhof, Protected residential complex in Meidling, Austria.
Indianerhof is a protected residential complex comprising 19 buildings with roughly 735 apartments distributed across several streets including Aichholzgasse, Ratschkygasse, and Hohenbergstraße. The site brings together different architectural styles by Camillo Fritz Discher and Karl Dirnhuber, and now contains residential units alongside a youth center and theater housed in a former laundry facility.
The complex was built between 1929 and 1931 as part of the Red Vienna movement, which aimed to provide modern housing for working-class residents. It became a site of armed conflict during the Austrian Civil War on February 14, 1934, a moment that reshaped the country's political landscape.
The complex takes its name from a colored figure of a Native American above the entrance at Rotenmühlgasse, a detail that shaped how residents and visitors refer to it. This reflects how public housing communities in Vienna often developed informal names based on distinctive visual features.
The complex is spread across multiple streets and can be explored on foot, with each section having its own character and interest. Visitors should allow time to wander through different building sections and public areas, particularly the youth center and theater which remain active community spaces today.
A colored figure of a Native American above the entrance at Rotenmühlgasse 64 gave this large social housing project its informal name. The name stuck and is used today by locals and visitors alike, even though the original meaning of the figure has faded from memory.
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