Two Wilhelminian style houses

“Viennese heritage in danger!”: Demo against demolition plans

At around 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, around 40 people gathered to protest against the planned demolition of the houses in Hernals.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Yesterday at Elterleinplatz, the tide ran high: conservationists and citizens fought loudly for the preservation of two architectural gems.

The protest against the planned demolition of Wilhelminian style buildings in favor of the construction of the U5 - at Elterleinplatz 8 and Währinger Gürtel 41 - reached a new high on Saturday. Around 40 preservationists and citizens gathered in front of the building jewel on Elterleinplatz. They drew attention to their concerns with posters such as "Viennese heritage in danger" and "Vienna lives from its cityscape". The "Krone" was on site and followed the protest action. "Not only is the historic cityscape being unnecessarily destroyed here, but intact and rented residential and commercial space is also being demolished," emphasized a spokesperson for the initiative.

The citizens want to preserve the cityscape.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Above all, they criticize the lack of transparency on the part of the city. Although the demolition of the buildings has been planned since 2022 according to presentations, the population only found out about it in the summer of 2024, they say.

This Wilhelminian style building is to be demolished.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

There are also other solutions
Particularly controversial: according to "Architekturrebellion Österreich", there are technical solutions to preserve the historic facades and still push ahead with the subway construction. The new petition on Change.org was also mentioned at the meeting. It is uncertain whether the demolitions can still be stopped - but no one is giving up without a fight