Palais Harrach

The former Harrach Garden Palace stood on a large site in Vienna’s Landstraße district, now occupied by the Ungargasse school complex. Its grounds stretched between Juchgasse, Boerhaavegasse and Barmherzigengasse, giving it a commanding presence in the 18th-century city.

The palace was built between 1727 and 1735 for Aloys Thomas Raimund von Harrach by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt. The chapel dedicated to Saint Januarius held an altarpiece by Martino Altomonte. Stonework came from Kaisersteinbruch masters Elias Hügel and Franz Trumler, who carved the main portal and staircase. In 1742 the estate passed to Harrach’s son Friedrich August, then to Emperor Leopold II in 1791. Later uses included a military riding school and a guard barracks before the building was demolished after war damage in 1968.

Today only the restored Januarius chapel and a small house on Juchgasse remain from the original complex. The school centre occupies the former palace grounds, while the chapel’s baroque interior survives intact. A surviving fragment of the palace’s grand staircase was moved to Schloss Eckartsau in 1912. The site’s layered history is visible in the surviving structures and the adjacent streets named after its past owners.