Our history
The Nest, our co-space, is located in a historic building in 1170 Vienna.
We did some research and wanted to show you what a building goes through.
How often have you lived somewhere and wondered:
Who and how many actually lived here before? What were these people doing here, what happened here in front of me, what did it look like...?
We asked ourselves these questions during the renovation and lo and behold:
Sometimes you have to research for a long time but sometimes just a nice coincidence is enough.
Hormayrgasse 53 is a colorful house and, with its sundial and many details, perhaps the most famous in the area.
Originally not so richly decorated, it was built in the Biedermeier period between 1815 and 1848 as an iron and coffee mill factory.
Hormayrgasse 53 in 1848:
Horses pulled carts through the gate and there was a lot of smoke coming from the chimneys.
Love of wood and printing ink
In 1920, the Czech couple Johannes and Maria Stribersky took over the factory and turned it into a carpentry workshop.
All that remains from that time is this closet and my family. Only now her name is Ziegler.
The family lived on the upper floors for a long time. When I was little, my great-aunt told me how they kept the Christmas carp in the bathtub, that their chickens lived in the yard and that a lot of laundry was always hung out there.
When the war came in 1939, the carpentry shop was closed and living space was created after the war ended. Up to 13 parties now lived in affordable apartments or just rooms in one family's space. A bookbindery moved into the ground floor, as did a fish shop.
In the 70s the ground floor of the house became a printing shop. Posters were made, flyers and posters printed on large hammering machines. The smell of printer ink and photo lab was in the air until the 90s.
In the 1970s, the house was completely renovated and richly decorated by the grandchildren Johannes Ziegler and Friedrich Dürrer.
The somewhat dreary factory walls were painted brightly and stairs were replaced or removed. Trees and a garden were planted and a fish pond was dug and a sundial was painted.
After its last renovation in the 90s, it was given a few more decorations and has since adorned Hormayrgasse with its charmingly unusual style and is cared for by the great-grandchildren, the Ziegler family.
Even after the current renovations in 2021-22 and a new extension, there is still a long way to go. Building structures must be preserved and maintained, plants must be watered and timely, sustainable solutions to old problems must be devised. So it never gets boring in an old house.
In 2019, our co-working space The Nest will be moving in, a creative space that, more like a living room than an open-plan office, offers creative birds and hard-working people from all over Vienna a great place to work. Instead of wood chips, fish bones and printer's ink There are now laptops and office tables in the halls.
You can hardly notice the factory anymore in the colorful farm, only the chickens have moved back in after all these years. Great-aunt would have been proud.