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Private Bar

As an entrance to the “Blauer Salon”, it was the perfect place to welcome guests in a cosy bar atmosphere or to end an event in comfort.

Private Bar

Todescos Billard Room

History of the Salons

Eduard von Todesco’s billiard room, which also served as a passage to the study, was designed by Theophil Hansen with a matching wooden ceiling, wainscoting, red walls, and green upholstered benches.

The central piece of furniture was a billiard table, with additional seating areas in front of the windows. While no original furniture plans have survived, a photo from around 1870 gives a good idea of the room’s layout.

The ceiling design from the study, featuring a large central star and four smaller stars in the corners, was repeated in a smaller pattern throughout the billiard room.

Floor plan
Eduard Todesco
Theophil Hansen

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Career at Gerstner

Eduard von Todesco

Entrepreneur and Private Banker

EDUARD TODESCO

Eduard Todesco (1814-1887), who came from a Hungarian-Jewish family, was one of the most influential businessmen and private bankers in the Habsburg Monarchy during the second half of the 19th century. After the Revolution of 1848, he gained recognition from the state through his generous purchases of government bonds and his charitable donations. As a result, he was knighted in 1861 and elevated to the rank of baron in 1869.

Todesco was part of the so-called “second society,” the financial aristocracy, which had a complex relationship with the high nobility. From the 18th century, and especially in the 19th century, this group became the elite of the rising, liberal, and imperial-loyal bourgeoisie. Together with his younger brother Moritz (1816-1873), Eduard inherited a vast fortune after the death of their father Hermann and managed the family bank “Hermann Todesco’s Sons.” Eduard and his wife Sophie had three daughters, Franziska (Fanny), Anna (Netti), and Gabriele (Yella), as well as a son, Hermann, who tragically died at the age of 27 following a carriage accident.

Theophil Hansen

Architect

THEOPHIL HANSEN

Theophil Hansen (1813-1891) was one of the most important architects in Austria during the 19th century. Born on July 13, 1813, in Copenhagen, he studied at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts, where he was introduced to Danish Classicism, primarily by his brother and teacher, Hans Christian Hansen.

In 1838, Theophil followed his brother to Greece. On his way, he passed through Berlin, where he was greatly influenced by the works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In Northern Italy, especially in Venice, he studied the architecture of Andrea Palladio. In Greece, he delved into ancient Greek architecture, though Byzantine architecture also had a profound impact on him, influencing his early style in Vienna.

In 1846, Christian Ludwig Förster invited Hansen to Vienna. Their collaboration was strengthened by Hansen’s marriage to Förster’s daughter, but it ended after her death. Hansen became one of the key architects behind the development of Vienna’s Ringstrasse. His most notable works from the 1860s include the Evangelical School at Karlsplatz, the Vienna Musikverein building, and the Palais Erzherzog Wilhelm on Parkring (now the OPEC building). Hansen referred to his style as “Greek Renaissance” and placed great emphasis on the interior design of his buildings.