8 fascinating facts about record holding buildings in Vienna

1. The tallest building

We guess you might know that already, but just in case, the tallest building in Vienna is the DC Tower. It measures 220 meters from ground to roof (250 meters if you count the antenna).

It actually holds the title of the tallest building in all of Austria. As a matter of fact, the Donauturm still surpasses it by two meters as the tallest structure in Austria, but as it’s not a building, it didn’t make the cut in this list.

2. The smallest building

You’ve probably passed this teeny-tiny building near the Volkstheater at some point.

It kind of looks glued to a larger one next to it, but it’s actually an independent, self-governing building. How tiny is it exactly, you ask? 14 square meters to be exact. That’s really not a whole lot of living space, right? But it’s actually never played the part of a residential building. Here’s the really crazy part – there’s a watchmaker’s shop inside that has been around since this house was built in 1872.

3. The longest building

When it comes to houses with claims to fame, most of the time architects are fighting it out over who can build the highest. But when constructing the social housing complex, the Karl-Marx-Hof, they were aiming to build the longest. And they certainly achieved their goal. This led to not only the longest residential building in Austria being built at around 1.2 kilometers, but the longest building people live in the whole world!

4. The narrowest building

In our intense research, we couldn’t really find out whether this house in the 14th district is actually narrower than Vienna’s smallest house. And since we also didn’t run around with a measuring tape, you’ll just have to take our (and the internet’s) word for it. This building is reportedly the narrowest house in the city. You could literally lie down in it and have your head touching one wall and your feet touching the other.

5. The building with the most stairs

The award for the building for the most stairs also goes to the DC Tower. Which kinda makes sense, you know, with it being the tallest and all.

From the bottom to the top, there are a total of 1.620 stairs.

Imagine having to climb them all! But luckily, there are also 29 elevators inside, which take you up in about 25 seconds. So unless you have a masochistic, crazy side to yourself that loves challenges, we wouldn’t really recommend taking the stairs in this building.

6. The building containing the most apartments

It’s not only the city’s longest building but it also is the one that houses the most apartments.

Originally, it offered space for about 5.000 people in about 1.382 apartments. Over time, there have been some merging of apartments going on though, leading to the number of flats today rounding up to 1.272. If we lived there, we’d making it our mission to know every single one of our neighbours and host regular house parties.

7. The building with the most rooms

Those Habsburgs really liked to live in over the top luxury. Their former modest summer residence, known as Schönbrunn, features a staggering 1.441 rooms (out of which only 45 are accessible to the public today).

While it’s of course pretty damn impressive inside, finding your way around the house must’ve been a real nightmare. You would have needed the same map tourists carry around today when in there!

By the way, another Habsburg residence in Vienna might have even more rooms. It’s estimated that their winter palace, the hip and happening Hofburg, has around 3.000, but that’s confirmed and they still haven’t let us in there to check this out, but when they do, you’ll be the first to know – we promise.

8. The oldest building

Up in the 19th district, a house can be found that has a longer history than all of Vienna’s iconic landmarks.

The Berghof in Heiligenstadt was built all the way back in 1180. Even though it has seen some renovations in the course of its life, it still stands in the same spot today it did hundreds of years ago. Coincidentally, it’s also home to Vienna’s oldest Wirtshaus – the Pfarrwirt.