Institutions 1
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The Palais as seat of institutions

From private bank to Vienna Schools Council

Gustav Epstein is one of the richest bankers in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy when the Viennese market crashes on a Friday May 9, 1873. In previous months stock and real estate prices have skyrocketed because of the World Exposition held in Vienna at the beginning of May of that year.

To avoid bankruptcy Epstein is forced to sell the grand palais on RIngstraße, the extravagant ballroom of which with its shifting walls and lowering doors can be seen in the above image. The patriarch dies 3 years later in 1876.

In 1922, after the Austro-Hungarian monarchy comes to an end, the Vienna Schools Council moves into Palais Epstein. In 1938, when Austria is taken over by the Nazis, the building office of the Reichstatthalterei moves in. Many of the Jewish furnishings and decorations disappear.

After WW2 Palais Epstein becomes the seat of the Soviet City Command. And an infamous prison. The building remains out of bounds for the Viennese police until the Allied occupation ends in 1955.

At the end of the 1950s the Vienna Schools Council returns to Palais Epstein where it remains until 2000.

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