Town hall Lustenau

The town hall in Lustenau stands in the centre of the market town in the Rhine valley of Vorarlberg. Its long, three-storey block with a flat roof was designed in the 1950s by Adelheid Gnaiger, Paul Götsch and Walter Griss. The building replaced an earlier 19th-century conversion of the school next to St Peter and Paul church. The Rathaus is worth seeing for its clear post-war architecture and the two memorial sites between its main wings. A grey-blue dolomite column recalls the free imperial court that shaped the town’s early history, quoting Sigismund of Luxembourg’s 1412 charter. Four busts of local figures—including the painter Stephanie Hollenstein and the dialect poet Hannes Grabher—honour the town’s cultural heritage. Inside, the functional layout reflects the 1950s design brief. The exterior shows the period’s characteristic flat roof and clean lines. The memorial column and the busts form quiet outdoor spaces between the building’s sections, linking past and present in the town’s public heart.