Construction of the Austrian Central Bank

Wien: Allgemeine Oesterreichische Baugesellschaft, March 1925. 295 by 400mm (11½ by 15¾ inches).

Commemorative photo album with two brass brads; 32 pp. explanatory text (in German) and [25] lvs. of photographs. Cover gold embossed ​“Oesterreichische Nationalbank”. 25 mounted original photographs (1 per page; all labeled). Generally 6 ½ by 9 inches. Complete. This copy custom made for architect Alexander Neumann (1861–1947). Neumann was of Jewish heritage and forced to emigrate out of Austria in 1939 — he made his new home in Australia and New Zealand.

Together with, Neubauten der Oesterreichisch-Ungarischen Bank in Wien. Wien: n.p., 1913. 540 by 380mm (21 ¼ by 15 inches). Cord-bound wrappers; [2], 56 pp. Detailed plans and architectural drawings. Album with bumping to corners and edges. Plan book missing back cover. One cannot imagine a more complex time in Austria’s history than the twelve years (1913–1925) it took to construct the headquarters of the Austrian National Bank. What started as a massive two-building headquarters for the Austro-Hungarian Bank fitting for the vast empire that Austria-Hungary was prior to World War I, was interrupted by Word War I and the subsequent hyper-inflation of 1922 and 1923.

The Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye that ended the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1919 provided for the complete liquidation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank. In its place came the Austrian National Bank, which picked up construction of a more limited single-structure headquarters in 1923. The construction plans detail the original proposed 1913 Austro-Hungarian Headquarters (including, blueprints showing the layout and location of the vaults) and the photo album depicts the construction and building as it was completed in 1925.

The building remains in use today where visitors (including this bookseller) are invited to handle a 12.4 kg ​“good delivery” gold bar. Very rare. Photo album held only in Austria at two institutions. We were not able to locate any holdings of the plan book. Neither object otherwise available on the market. Priced as a set.