Urban district planned

After major fire: Rösselmühle in Graz now demolished

This is what the Rösselmühle site currently looks like

(Bild: punktvier)

The fire at the more than 700-year-old Rösselmühle mill in Graz caused a sensation in 2023. A large part of the historic ensemble of buildings has now been demolished and a new district is to be built in the middle of the Gries district. Planning begins.

"The Rösselmühle is on fire!" This news spread like wildfire on April 1 last year, and the tall column of smoke dominated the cityscape of Graz for hours. The professional fire department reached the limits of its capacity during the demanding extinguishing operation. It later transpired that young people had set the fire, and they were later given suspended sentences in court.

The millstones turned at the site for around 700 years, but flour production ceased in 2014. Due to the extensive fire damage, a large part of the industrial monument could no longer be saved, including the north and south towers to the east of the mill race and a building above the mill race that was in danger of collapsing. 

The Rösselmühle burned down on April 1, 2023

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

New name: "Rösselmühle an der Postgarage"
"After around nine months, the demolition work has been completed," reports Birgit Leinich, Managing Director of RoMü GmbH. It is to develop the site on behalf of the Polsterer family, the owners, and the housing developer OSW. The name "Rösselmühle an der Postgarage" has now been found for it. The Postgarage is a listed event building directly adjacent to the former mill.

The aim is to create a new urban quarter "with the perfect combination of local amenities, retail, commerce, offices, leisure, culture and living", as it says. The "climate-oriented" urban development framework plan is to be completed by the end of the year; the contract for this was recently awarded to the architecture and urban development firm Kleboth und Dollnig. 

Public parking spaces are definitely planned - important in the densely populated Gries district. The towers are also being planned in order to preserve the well-known silhouette of the district. A residents' initiative is sceptical about the planned new district and has also criticized the demolition of the towers.