A problem zone due to flooding, the Wien River needed regulating in the late-19th century. At the same time, Otto Wagner had visions of turning the area between Karlsplatz and Schönbrunn into a magnificent boulevard. The vision blurred and the reality is a gushing, concrete-bottomed creek and a couple of attractive Wagner houses on the Linke Wienzeile.
Majolika-Haus at No. 40 (1899) is the prettiest as it’s completely covered in glazed ceramic to create flowing floral motifs on the facade. The second of these Jugendstil masterpieces is a corner house at No. 38 (1899), with reliefs from Kolo Moser and shapely bronze figures from Othmar Schimkowitz. Nearby is a third house, simpler than these, at Köstlergasse 3 (1899) and, finally, you can put Wagner’s functionality to the test by descending into his Kettenbrückengasse U-Bahn station (1899).
