RED VIENNA: IDEOLOGY, ARCHITECTURE AND ART IN THE REUMANNHOF MUNICIPAL SOCIAL HOUSING;

Abstract

This study focuses on the Reumannhof Social Housing Complex, which was designed by Hubert Gessner (1871–1943) and constructed between 1924 and 1926 in Vienna. It was one of the largest buildings as part of the Municipal Social Housing Program for workers implemented under the leadership of Jakob Reumann, who was the mayor of Vienna between 1919 and 1923. According to the social democratic ideology in Vienna, known as the Red Vienna period (1919–1934) of the city administration, this program aimed to meet the housing needs of the working class and to provide them with better living conditions. Due to the increase in worker migration to the city after the Industrial Revolution and upon the demolition of the city during World War I, a housing crisis emerged in Vienna and unfavorable living conditions - such as one-room apartments and rental beds even for a few hours - became a necessity. The paper attempts to probe into the nature of the connection between the Reumannhof Complex architecture and the Red Vienna ideology in light of the social democratic perspective of the working class. In order to do so, the entire structure - known as “the palace of the working class” - is analyzed in detail while pointing to similar social housing complexes, such as Metzleinstalerhof on the Margaretengürtel known as “Proletarian’s Boulevard” and nearby. Additionally, the standardization criteria, as envisioned within the context of the social housing program, are examined to find out any traces of their presence (or improvements/modifications upon them) in the Reumannhof Complex. In the context of the political and socio-economic conditions of that era, a comparative analysis of the architectural elements and landscape architecture is conducted, such as courtyards and Haydnpark on the front in the latter case. Original archival documents, photographs, and drawings of the complex were collected and during the course of the field research, photographs were taken. © (2024), (Middle East Technical University). All rights reserved.