Postal Savings Bank

The Post Office Savings Bank (Postparkasse) in Vienna, completed in 1912, is a significant building in the transition from Classical and Historicist architecture to Modernism. Designed by Otto Wagner, it occupies an entire city block and showcases clean functionality, a departure from the over-ornamentation of Art Nouveau. While it incorporates some ornamentation, such as cast-aluminum figures, its grand symmetry and emphasis on practicality were highly influential. The main public hall, the Kassenhalle, features a large glass skylight and glass tiles on the floor to disperse light. This building is considered restrained compared to other Secessionist works.1