Haus der Kunst

The Haus der Kunst stands in Baden, a spa town south of Vienna. Built in 1818–19 by Pietro Nobile for Josef von Hudelist, it is a two-storey cube with a central pedimented portico and Palladian details. The façade shows rusticated ground-floor walls and pilastered upper windows with balustrades. Its history includes ownership by the Freiherr von Villa-Secca and later Moritz Löwenstein, whose grandson Gustav expanded the garden with glasshouses and vineyards. In 1914 a short-lived casino opened here, and during the First World War the villa served as a meeting place for Emperor Karl I and his military chiefs. After 1925 it became the town’s spa directorate and later housed tourism offices and a Beethoven society. Today the building presents art exhibitions, concerts and courses by the Franz Schubert Institute. A glass-fronted gallery on the first floor offers views over the garden. The former reading room, now a café, retains its coffered ceiling and chandeliers.