Architectural History

When Count Friedrich Karl von Schönborn came to Vienna as Impe-rial Vice- Chancellor in 1705, he at first occupied an official residencein the Hofburg's Imperial Chancellery Wing. In 1683, with the SecondTurkish Siege of Vienna having been lifted, the city's suburbs experi-enced a building boom. And in 1706, Friedrich Karl purchased fromthe Imperial Court Chamber and Privy Counsellor Johann ChristophReichsritter von Forster a property in the suburb of Alservorstadt thathad already been built upon. He then had architect Johann Lucasvon Hildebrandt set about remodelling the existing complex. Themost important construction measures necessary for its transforma-tion into the envisioned Garden Palace were carried out in 1706/07.These were realised according to the architect's plans by Franz Jänggl,a middle- class master stonemason from Vienna. By 1715, CountSchönborn's total work of art- including the garden complex- wasfinished. And one year later, the English authorLady Montague wrote of this estate:" Count Schoen-born's villa is one of the most magnificent." Lateron, in 1725, Count Schönborn enlarged his propertytowards the east by purchasing the adjacent estateof Imperial Army paymaster Wisendo von Wisenburg.

Friedrich Karl had gotten to know the royalChâteau de Marly at Marly- le- Roi in 1698 duringthe initial phase of the period he spent in France as

" CountSchoenborn'svilla is one

of the mostmagnificent"

a student. Its main pavilion served as the model for the SchönbornGarden Palace's eleven- axis main façade. Hildebrandt accordedgreat weight to the façade's central avant- corps and added furtherarchitectonic accents including six colossal pillars with compositecapitals, a stone portal with a balcony, and a coat- of- arms crown-ing the central pediment and rising up over the cornice. Finally, abalustrade topped by sculptures plus a high mansard roof servedto make the building appear to be of even greater height.

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