Picture this. You stand before Altmannsdorfer Schloss a Biedermeier-style country house. Its history stretches back centuries.
Originally the site housed a farmstead known as Oswaldhof. This estate included two fiefs fourteen homesteads and fields below the Wienerberg mountain. In the 15th century it formed a unit with St Oswald’s Chapel Oswaldhof and a keeper’s house. The owner Erhart Griesser a citizen and councilman of Vienna bequeathed it to the Order of the Barefooted Augustinians in 1444.
The Augustinians established their administrative seat there. They didn’t farm the land however. The first Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529 destroyed the building. A hastily rebuilt structure was given as a life estate to a Lower Austrian chamberlain in 1570. After various owners the Augustinians regained possession in 1652.
The second Turkish siege in 1683 destroyed the farmstead again. It was rebuilt with modifications. In 1809 Napoleon’s troops used it as a field hospital. After the Augustinian Order’s dissolution in 1812 the property went to the Imperial and Royal Lower Austrian State Goods Directorate.
Johann Baptist Hoffmann bought Altmannsdorfer Schloss in 1818 or 1819 for 52300 Gulden. He transformed the farmstead into the Biedermeier country house we see today. After Hoffmann’s death in 1856 his daughter Anna and her husband Johann von Hoffinger inherited it. Saxon troops were quartered there in 1866. Anna sold it to Julius Frankl in 1899 for 400000 Gulden.
His son Robert made numerous alterations. The art historian Dagobert Frey lived there as a tenant. The family of brewer Moriz von Kuffner visited in the summer. Frankl transferred ownership to his wife Maria in 1926. She sold part of the grounds to a housing association in 1953. A residential complex was built.
The dilapidated Schloss and park were placed under monument protection in 1967. The Renner Institute acquired the property in 1973. They restored Altmannsdorfer Schloss until 1978. The Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf was added in 1980. The hotel and Schloss were linked. Many prominent international politicians held events there. The Bruno Kreisky Prize for political books was also awarded here.
The Renner Institute’s social science library is located within the building. In June 2017 the SPÖ decided to sell the Gartenhotel Altmannsdorf. It was sold to an Austrian group in early 2018. This marked the end of its operation as a hotel. Altmannsdorfer Schloss stands as a testament to Vienna’s rich history. A reminder of its past and a place transformed through the passage of time.