Street scene in the Viennese Herrengasse from early 1930s with construction of first Viennese high-rise building in 1931-1932.

This original etching was executed by famous Austrian graphic artist Luigi Kasimir (1881-1962). It is extremely rare on art market.

High-rise (1st, Herrengasse 6-8, Fahnengasse 2, Wallnerstraße 5-7), was built on the grounds of the Liechtenstein Palace and the associated buildings, which had been lying fallow for two decades and were located there until 1913 and 1917 respectively. The high-rise, the first of its kind in Vienna, was started in 1931 after two years of planning and was completed the following year by Siegfried Theiß and Hans Jaksch. The "steps" of the 52-meter-high building from the 12th floor, as required by the building authorities, appear to have been implemented too schematically; only the top two floors can be described as truly "modern".

The reason for building a "high-rise" was not necessarily of an architectural nature, but primarily due to the expensive building site. At the top, the architects placed a three-story, glass-walled café, which no longer exists. Of the 225 apartments, 105 were very different "normal apartments" with living space between 20 and 93 square meters; there were also "single apartments" with a floor space of 16 to 30 square meters.

The high-rise building on 1st Herrengasse was a stylistic epigone of the houses of the Vienna Renovation Fund in black Vienna.

Literature: H.Fuchs ”lexicon of Austrian painters”, Vienna, 1975.

Inscription: signed  on pencil lower right. 

Technique: original lithographin color  on paper, matted and framed.

Measurements: only image w 9 1/4” x h 13 1/2” (28 x 46 cm), with fields  and framed 16 1/4” x h. 20 2/3” (42 x 62,5 cm).

Condition:  very good.