366
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
ON BUILDING AND AECH1TECTUEE.
BY NELSON L. DERBY.*
Group XVIII.
In no capital of Europe is such an amount of building going on at the present moment as at Vienna. Dwelling- houses of enormous size—some built around two, three, and even four court-yards, and accomodating twenty, thirty, or more, families—are arising; new churches are approaching completion; and, above all, many monumental buildings, whose erection will cost years of labor, are in various stages of construction.
Twenty years ago, beyond the Cathedral of St; Stephen, there was little or nothing imposing or beautiful in the architecture of this city. The streets were narrow, and lined by plain, stuccoed buildings of great height, whose lower stories received so little light that remarkable contrivances were often resorted to, to introduce the same. In the interior city one sees still many windows provided with mirrors, set at an angle of forty-five degrees with the front, to reflect the light from above into the rooms. Within the period mentioned, great changes have been wrought,—the old fortification walls encircling the city have been removed; the great ditch, exterior to these, and having a depth of some sixty feet, has been filled; and the space thus gained, to-
* The Vienna Exposition contained a magnificent collection of architectural material in the shape of models, drawings, engravings, plans, etc.; and, in this display, the Vienna architects were easily first. And this happened both from their propinquity and from the fact, that the enormously rapid growth of the city of late years, has developed the science of building to a remarkable extent. In this Report, it has been deemed better to refer to the actual buildings as examples, rather than to the drawings and illustrations of the same exhibited in the Exposition.— Editor.