november-2011

Born Again
VIENNA’S ONCE-CRUMBLING SECOND DISTRICT IS IN THE MIDST OF
A PROPERTY BOOM, WITH SMART SHOPS, RESTAURANTS AND SHINY
NEW BUILDINGS ENTICING A NEW BREED OF RESIDENT
GERAINT WILLIAMS
LUKAS SCHALLER
WHEN COMPARED TO THE classical grandeur of
Vienna’s fi rst district, Innere Stadt, it’s no surprise that
Leopoldstadt has always come off behind. Though
only minutes away on foot, the city’s second district
could not feel more different to the historical heart of
the ancient metropolis.
Unlike the Baroque palaces and ornate coffee
houses of the central area, the view here is dominated
by an unappealing array of offi ce blocks and bleak
1950s housing, while the location – situated on what’s
effectively an island created by the Danube River to
the north and the Danube Canal to the immediate
south – has always added to a sense of dislocation
from the rest of the city.
Look a little more closely, though, and you’ll notice
that changes are afoot – not least to the skyline.
Between the crumbling church spires and post-war
eyesores, you’ll now see the glass-clad structure
of architect Jean Nouvel’s fi ve-star Sofi tel Vienna
Stephansdom. Opened last December, complete with
an Antoine Westermann-supervised restaurant, Le
Loft, a vertical garden by French landscape architect
Patrick Blanc and three fl oors of high-end design
shops, Nouvel’s landmark tower is a welcome addition.
It’s also a sure sign of the gentrifi cation process
that’s happening in Leopoldstadt, centred around
the Karmeliterviertel area of the district. This onceshabby
locale, at the heart of Vienna’s historic Jewish
community and named after a nearby Carmelite
cloister, has been tipped since the early noughties as an
area on the up, but it’s only recently that things have
really started to happen.
Accelerated by the arrival of the U2 underground
line on Taborstrasse in 2008, the district’s cool has
been cemented by the arrival of elegant boutiques and
restaurants, attracting artists, students and young,
creative professionals.
Drawn by its ethnic mix (the local Jewish and
Turkish communities make their homes here),
proximity to the city centre and reasonable rents,
PROPERTY | VIENNA
The condominiums
and single-family
homes in the
K-2 development
feature
underground
parking and
spacious terraces
these new residents, with their thick-rimmed
spectacles, laptops and bicycles, are easy to spot on the
terraces of the Karmelitermarkt’s bars and cafés.
Among them is Kozva Rigaud, whose photographic
agency has offi ces in the Karmeliterviertel and Berlin’s
Prenzlauer Berg. She appreciates the growing number
of chic stores and, as a young mum, the abundance
of green spaces and liberal outlook. “There are lots
of young couples with kids,” she says. “People have a
very tolerant mindset here, and there’s a sort of fusion
between the different religions and cultures.”
IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT families are moving in. Only
four blocks away, overlooked by some of the area’s most
desirable properties, you can stroll in the vast Baroque
Augarten park and sip coffee in the bucolic Augarten
Contemporary (belvedere.at) – an outpost of the
Belvedere Palace gallery.
It’s a far cry from the area’s colourful past.
Leopoldstadt has a long Jewish tradition dating
back to the 17th century. In the 1800s, Jews fl eeing
the pogroms in the east settled here, earning it the
nickname of “matzo island”. In no other district of
Vienna is the memory of World War II so noticeable.
The sight of the fl ak towers in the Augarten is a stark
reminder of the aerial bombing that Vienna endured
TRAVELLER | 97