Early 20th Century Pioneers : The Austrian Postal Savings Bank by Otto Wagner
Austrian Postal Savings Bank, Otto Wagner, (Vienna, Austria); 1903 - 1912; Early 20th Century Pioneers Also known as K.K. Postsparkassenamt and Die Österreichische Postsparkasse, the Postal Savings Bank is often cited as architect Otto Wagner's most important work. In its design, Wagner accomplishes beauty with functional simplicity, setting the tone for modernism. British architect and historian Kenneth Frampton has described the exterior this way: "... the Post Office Savings Bank resembles a gargantuan metal box, an effect due in no small measure to the thin polished sheets of white Sterzing marble that are anchored to its façade with aluminum rivets. Its glazed canopy frame, entrance doors, balustrade and parapet rail are also of aluminum, as are the metal furnishings of the banking hall itself. " — Kenneth Frampton The "modernism" of the architecture is Wagner's use of traditional stone materials (marble) held in place by new buildin...