Master Art

FURNITURE FROM OTTO WAGNER’s APARTMENT

1070 Vienna, Döblergasse 4

Designed by: Otto Wagner, Vienna, before 1912

Executed by: Bothe und Ehrmann

Bird's-eye maple veneer on pine, brass fittings, excellent original condition, surface professionally cleaned and refreshed, Viennese cabinet making of outstanding quality

32.1. PYLON CUPBOARD

Cut and facetted glass, marble top, some interior fittings missing in the lower section, there may have been built-in cutlery drawers, surface slightly cleaned and polished

H 227 cm, W 89 cm, D 69 cm

32.2. LINEN CABINET

Nine drawers on the outside, three doors, door in the middle with mirror, six "English" (semi-open front) drawers inside

H 178 cm, W 117 cm, D 45 cm

Austria's most important architect, Otto Wagner, had the habit of planning and equipping an apartment for himself in many of the apartment houses he designed. This also held true for the house at Döblergasse 4 in Vienna's 7th district, located in the immediate vicinity of the Wiener Werkstätte showrooms and workshops. Naturally, Wagner also designed the interior of this stately city residence, whose furnishings most impressively reflects the outstanding skills and expertise of this great artist. After having competed this apartment, Wagner designed only very few interiors, i. a. the extension to the Postsparkasse building in 1912 including furniture and fittings as well as the interior of the second Villa Wagner in Vienna’s Hüttelbergstrasse.

For his wife's room, he designed a three piece suite and an occasional table in bird's-eye maple. The pattern of the silk fabric designed by Wagner to upholster this suite was also used for the room’s carpet, both manufactured by the Backhausen company. Since the furniture was re-upholstered later on without removing the – already worn – material, we found some pieces of the original silk designed by Wagner and had the fabric woven true to the original – however, not in silk.  Thanks to the presence of the original material, we have thus irrefutably identified this suite and occasional table as part of the pieces Wagner used to furnish his city residence. As the ensemble had been acquired as a whole, it can be thus be assumed with a probability bordering on certainty that both pieces of furniture offered are indeed from Wagner's apartment in Döblergasse.