Inside Rosewood Vienna, Mozart’s Former Home
Once a neoclassical bank, the restored building is one of Vienna’s hottest new hotels.
Part of the charm of the 99-room Rosewood Vienna, which opened recently in the city’s first district, is that the neoclassical building blends in with the surrounding landmarks. On a discreet side street, valets and porters are some of the sole indicators that this is indeed the entrance to one of the city’s most-anticipated hotels to open in nearly a decade (the last major five-star debut was the Park Hyatt Vienna in 2014).
Adding a haute touch to the hotel scene, Rosewood Vienna is housed in the 19th-century Erste Group Bank headquarters and Mozart’s former apartment, where he lived and composed The Abduction From the Seraglio. Originally designed by Austrian architect Alois Pichl, the property was restored and updated with the help of two local firms, A2K and BEHF Architects, while London interior design studio Alexander Waterworth was behind the bedroom and spa decor.
The first-floor lobby lounge features one of the highlights of the hotel, Salon Aurelie, a tea room where hand-painted murals of palm fronds, flowers, and butterflies by Austrian artist Marie Hartig pay homage to Palmenhaus (Palm House), Vienna’s impressive steel-and-glass art nouveau botanical gardens. Hoffmann House, the 1,916-square-foot presidential suite that features sweeping views of Petersplatz from its French balcony, also incorporates subtle homages to Vienna, including the chandelier with hand-cut Swarovki crystals from 200-year-old glass manufacturer J. & L. Lobmeyr.
Classic Austrian millwork in the Neue Hoheit restaurant nods to the city’s traditional coffeehouses, while handcrafted brass wall light fixtures are modelled after the edelweiss alpine flower. The sixth-floor brasserie, which can be accessed via elevator directly from the street, extends to the Garden Room, a sultry, speakeasy-style rooftop cocktail bar and checkerboard-tiled outdoor terrace and garden. From one of the green-marble tables, you can see the historic centre’s rooftops, the dome of St. Peter’s Church, and the colourful, chevron-patterned roof of St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
But the best view at Rosewood Vienna is from a less-expected vantage point: under the hotel’s vaulted roof. Unfolding across the fifth and sixth floors, the Asaya Spa is the brand’s first outside of Asia and the first in Austria to partner with Augustinus Bader, the German doctor who developed the lauded, science-proven skin-care line praised by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and the Kardashians. In the relaxation room, chaise longues are sheltered under the emerald-hued ceiling that mimics the curves and colour of the dome of St. Peter’s Church looming across the way. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the imperial grandeur that makes Vienna a destination people want to revisit is perfectly framed—and there aren’t any tourists blocking the view.
