Berufsschule/Mitteltrakt

The building at Steingasse 6 in Linz stands in the heart of the city, a five-storey structure partly below ground. It was raised in the 1840s on land once part of the Kuefstein Freihaus park and later enlarged in 1888 by Ignaz Scheck. In 1927 Curt Kühne and the city building office gave it the plain New Objectivity façade it still wears. Between 1851 and 1995 it served as a school, beginning as a lower realschule under Mayor Reinhold Körner. Adalbert Stifter helped plan the curriculum and became the first regional school inspector. From 1900 to 1904 Adolf Hitler attended classes here before moving to Steyr. The house also housed the Old Catholic congregation’s chapel from 1909 to 1918. Inside, visitors find a four-pillar staircase from 1844 and a central portal framed by two continuous lintels with recessed triangular gables. The seven window axes rise to a crenellated attic. Today the building belongs to the Promenaden Galerien, linking past and present along the city’s riverside walk.