The Stuwerviertel is an anomaly, both more
and less than meets the eye: Wedged in
between the Prater, Mexikoplatz and
Ausstellungsstrasse, it’s quiet, unimposing,
with wide alleys lush with trees and venera-
ble Altbau apartment houses that suggest a
comfortable, residential neighborhood
where you might find the occasional café,
tavern or antique store.
But despite its fine housing stock and cen-
tral location, it has long lived in dusty de-
cline, with empty storefronts and an aging
population whose world has moved on.
While other parts of the 2nd district have
taken off, gentrification is crawling in at an
almost imperceptible pace here. Even with
the shiny new WU (Vienna University of
Economics and Business) campus next
door, there are few areas that the Bobos haveyet made their own. Only the Vorgarten-
markt, tucked in among the back streets
near the Vorgartenstrasse U-Bahn station,
shows early signs of urban renaissance.
The explanation is not hard to find –
Stuwerviertel is still trying to shake off a
questionable reputation. As recently as six
years ago, the area was a notorious red light
district considered off-limits to visitors, rife
with streetwalkers catering to Johns from
the nearby Prater.STARTING WITH A BANG
The Stuwerviertel’s beginnings reach back
to the early days of the Prater itself, when it
was opened to the public in 1776 by Emperor
Joseph II. The Grätzl’s name is a homage to
the local pyrotechnician and early aviator
Johann Georg Stuwer, whose elaborateStuwerviertelA Link
to the Past
BY GREGORY BONDARUK
PHOTO CATHERINE MARGARET
ILLUSTRATION KARIN DREHER