Österreichische Postsparkasse

The Austrian Post Savings Bank (Österreichische Postsparkasse) building is a famous Jugendstil building, designed by Austrian architect Otto Wagner and constructed between 1904 and 1906. It occupies an entire city block and is regarded as an important early work of modern architecture. The entire façade is covered with square marble plates, these are attached to the main brick structure with mortar and ornamented with iron bolts with aluminium caps, which themselves form a pattern. The architect kept the design very minimalistic and simple, his aim was to convey the sense of a strong, impenetrable bank in which customers would know their money was safe. Only at the upper part of the exterior Wagner added more elaborated ornaments, such as statues of female angels holding laurels in both hands. Nowadays a part of the the building is used as museum (Wagner:Werk - Museum Postsparkasse).