1931-1945 House Alma Mahler Vienna - Steinfeldgasse No. 2

Steinfeldgasse No. 2 / Wollergasse No. 12.
Hohe Warte district.
Architect Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956).
Built 1909-1911 as Villa Eduard Ast.

Owners 1931-1945: Alma Mahler (1879-1964) and Franz Werfel (1890-1945)
12-06-1937 Farewell party.

Haus Ast. Erected by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) in 1909-1911 for the contractor Eduard Ast (1868-1945). The two-storey house, resting on a pedestal floor, is strikingly different from the architect’s earlier buildings, and represents the splendor of his work in Vienna. The simple building is classical (windows with simple decor and characteristic masonry on the façade). Carl Julius Rudolf Moll (1861-1945) acquired the villa (which had been exclusively furnished by Josef Hoffmann) for Alma Mahler, who lived here until 1937 with Franz Werfel.

The villa was at this time a spiritual and cultural center of Vienna with Alban Berg (1885-1935), Egon Friedell, Gerhart Hauptmann (1868-1946), Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980), Thomas Mann (1875-1955), Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949), AArthur Schnitzler (1862-1931), Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) and Bruno Walter (1876-1962).

The palatial villa on the Hohe Warte soon became for Alma an emotional burden, since Manon Gropius (1916-1935) had died there. In any case, Franz Werfel (1890-1945) preferred to work in hotel rooms outside Vienna. On 12-06-1937, Alma gave a farewell party at the villa, at which all Vienna was present, including Bruno Walter (1876-1962) and Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), Ida Roland, Carl Zuckmayer, Egon Wellesz (1885-1974), Ödön von Horváth, Siegfried Trebitsch, Arnold Josef Rose (1863-1946), Karl Schönherr, Franz Theodor Csokor and many more. A Schrammel band played melancholic Viennese Volkslieder, and for many the mood in the air evoked the ending of an era.

In 1945, Alma Mahler (1879-1964) sold the property for 40,000 Swiss Francs.

House Alma Mahler Vienna 1931-1945 – Steinfeldgasse No. 2.