if you find yourself in vienna, and don’t have time to tour some of adolf loos’s work, surely you can make time for a good vodka martini at the american bar (or kaertner bar) – a cozy space representative of loos’s design style. loos, a seminal figure in early 20th century architecture, was critical of the prevailing style of his period, the viennese seccession (austrain art nouveau). the bar is conveniently located off the main central pedestrian area in vienna on a side street called kaertnerstrasse, which is located of stephansplatz (where the cathedral is). the bar celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and they are open till 4am every day.
when you catch your flight to tokyo the next day, head to the only standing (albeit reconstructed) example of frank lloyd wright’s original imperial hotel interior. if you’re looking for classic wright design, good martinis and attentive service to boot, don’t miss on this gem of classic architecture.
these are period pieces and are not hip bars by any stretch… a post on this will follow shortly, hang in there
American Bar +43 1 512 3283
On adolf loos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Loos
The Old Imperial Bar
Imperial Hotel 2F, 1-1-1 Uchisaiwai-cho, 1-1-2 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
call +81 3 3504 1111
Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to midnight
