Villa Pyrker

Villa Pyrker stands in Bad Hofgastein, a market town in the Salzburger Land. Built in 1834 as a summer residence for Johann Ladislaus Pyrker, Patriarch of Venice, it later became the district court for the Gastein area. The building was enlarged several times and passed through different owners, including the Austrian state after 1945. A court usher’s house and a tax office once belonged to the same complex. Today the villa forms part of the Kurhaus Hanusch. The villa is a two-storey structure with a central projection on its north-east front and triangular gables on either side. Its past as a court is still visible in the layout and details. The original plans are kept in the Salzburg state archives. The building was renovated in the 21st century and now carries the name Villa Pyrker once more. Visitors find a calm, protected building set among the spa town’s streets. The façade shows the classic lines of early 19th-century summer villas. Inside, the rooms reflect the villa’s later use as a court and its modern restoration. The surroundings include the nearby spa quarter and the wooded slopes of the Hohe Tauern.