Designed by Adolf Loos, this modernist gem put Franz Josef’s nose seriously out of joint when it was completed in 1911. Its intentionally simple facade offended the emperor so deeply that he ordered the curtains to be pulled on all palace windows overlooking the building. Today it houses a bank, with exhibition halls on the upper floors, including displays on this controversial building.
While it was being erected, critics were describing this as a ‘house without eyebrows,’ referring to its lack of window detail, and work had to be stopped until Loos agreed to add the 10 window boxes adorning it today.
