Living at the Althangrund — what is it like?
Short and honest: you live next to a concrete platform under which the trains of the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof have run since the 1970s, among Gründerzeit houses, buildings of the seventies and the converted Althan Quartier, with the U4 about five minutes away on foot. The trade-off: the site of the old University of Economics will be a building site into the 2030s.
Living Snapshot — the area in numbers
The Althangrund is not a Grätzl of its own in Vienna Living Map’s data — what is rated are the residential areas around it: Porzellangasse directly to the south, and to the west Nußdorfer Straße and the Grätzl around the Volksoper.
What shapes daily life
The name is older than the station. The Althangrund was a suburb named after Count Christoph Johann Althan, who held land here from 1685 and had a garden palace built around 1700; in 1783, 597 people lived in 15 houses, and in 1850 the area became part of Vienna. The Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof opened in 1872. In the mid-1970s it was demolished and its tracks were covered with a platform: on its nine-metre-high base rose the glass Bank Austria building, Karl Schwanzer’s last work, the University of Economics and buildings of the University of Vienna. The trains still run underneath.
Now the platform is being rebuilt for the second time. The office building above the station was not demolished but converted as “Francis”; in 2026 the City of Vienna honoured it among 26 buildings completed in 2025, citing 18,625 tonnes of CO₂ saved by the conversion. Around Julius-Tandler-Platz the Althan Quartier added about 260 flats, offices, shops and a hotel, and the former Telekom building about 240 rental flats. And the old University of Economics, moved into in 1982 and left in 2013, is becoming the Campus Althangrund: for the University of Vienna, BOKU, a grammar school and a technical college, about 20,000 people.
What works surprisingly well
Distances are short: the U4 at Friedensbrücke is about five minutes away on foot, trams D, 5 and 12 stop at the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, and at the northern end of the site the U4 and U6 run at Spittelau. For public transport the Porzellangasse Grätzl reaches 9.0 out of 10.
Green is closer than the platform suggests: the Liechtensteinpark a few streets to the south, the Danube Canal with its riverside path to the east. And one evening walk covers more than a century of Viennese building history: the Strudlhofstiege of 1910, the buildings on the platform, Hundertwasser’s Spittelau and Zaha Hadid’s housing above the Stadtbahn arches.
What you consciously accept
Building will go on for a long time: after the interim uses that ran in the old university until January 2026 come pollutant removal and preparatory works, the shell is due to start at the end of 2028, and the campus will open step by step from 2032. Anyone moving to Augasse or Althanstraße now will live next to a large building site for some years.
It is neither quiet nor cool here: the Porzellangasse Grätzl sits below Vienna’s median for quiet at 6.3 (median 6.8) and above the average of the modelled summer-heat index at 59 (average 56). The streets around the platform carry trams and traffic.
20 minutes of everyday life
Five stops, one evening after work — every observation is true exactly here, not everywhere.
- Julius-Tandler-Platz 17:30
The trains of the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof pull in under the platform; above it stands the converted office building “Francis”. Tram D stops outside. - Althanstraße 17:38
On the west side of the platform stands the Althanstraße university centre, like everything here on the nine-metre-high base above the tracks. - Augasse 17:43
The old University of Economics: moved into in 1982, left in 2013. From 2032 the Campus Althangrund is due to open here step by step, for about 20,000 people; first comes the building site. - Spittelauer Lände 17:47
Zaha Hadid’s housing of 2005: three volumes laid over the listed Stadtbahn arches without touching them — 34 flats between the Danube Canal and the road. - Spittelau 17:51
Hundertwasser’s façade around the 1971 waste incinerator, designed after the fire of 1987 and finished in 1992. On average it feeds 60 megawatts of heat into the district-heating network; the chimney is 126 metres tall. The U4 and U6 run from here.
Who is it for?
For anyone who likes city history outside the window — Gründerzeit, seventies concrete, Hundertwasser and Hadid on one evening walk — and takes the U4 or the tram every day. If quiet is what you need most in the coming years, factor in the building site on the university grounds into the 2030s.
Check the light per floor
Very different heights stand side by side around the platform: Gründerzeit house, seventies buildings, new build. Whether sun reaches a window is therefore decided by the building opposite and the floor. The light check calculates, for the address and the floor, when direct sun reaches the windows — on 21 June and 21 December, from the officially measured heights of the neighbouring buildings. The preview for one room is free. To the light check →
Open this place in Vienna Living Map →The Porzellangasse Grätzl portrait · Living on the Danube Canal · Architecture in Vienna · Alsergrund district · Karl-Marx-Hof · Arsenal
Method & sources
History of the suburb: Wien Geschichte Wiki (City of Vienna), article “Althan”. Station, platform and the buildings on it: Wikipedia, articles “Wien Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof” and “Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien”; ORF, “Vom Bahnhof zum Hochhaus” (11 January 2018). Althan Quartier: ORF Wien (14 August 2024); City of Vienna, MA 19, “Wien gebaut 2025: Althan Quartier – Francis”. Campus Althangrund: ORF Wien (9 August 2025). Strudlhofstiege and Spittelau waste incinerator: Wikipedia; Spittelau housing: Baunetz Wissen. All read on 12 October 2026. Lines from the Wiener Linien timetable (GTFS), walking minutes from the straight-line distance × 1.3 at 80 m per minute. The Living Snapshot shows the scores of the neighbouring Grätzl Porzellangasse, Nußdorfer Straße and Volksoper Umgebung from open data — orientation, not a rating of individual flats.
Frequently asked
What is the Althangrund?
A former suburb in the 9th district, named after Count Christoph Johann Althan, who held land here from 1685 and had a garden palace built around 1700; it became part of Vienna in 1850. Its borders ran along Alserbachstraße, Althanstraße and Augasse to the Danube Canal, and Spittelau belonged to it too. Today the name stands for the area around the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof.
Why does the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof lie under a platform?
In the mid-1970s the 1872 station was demolished and the tracks were covered with a concrete platform. On its nine-metre-high base rose the glass Bank Austria building, the University of Economics and buildings of the University of Vienna; the last were finished in the early 1990s. The new station under the platform opened in 1978, and the trains still run underneath.
What will become of the old University of Economics?
The Campus Althangrund: the University of Vienna is bringing sites together there, above all the Faculty of Social Sciences, joined by BOKU, a grammar school and a technical college — about 20,000 people. As much of the existing structure as possible is to be kept. The shell is due to start at the end of 2028, and the campus will open step by step from 2032; the winning design of the Europe-wide competition is due to be presented at the end of 2026.
Can you live at the Althangrund?
Yes. About 260 flats were built in the Althan Quartier at Julius-Tandler-Platz, and about 240 rental flats in the former Telekom building; around them stand the houses of Lichtental and the Rossau. Anyone moving in now will live next to the campus building site for some years.
Which district is the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof in?
In the 9th district, Alsergrund, postcode 1090 — at Julius-Tandler-Platz, just behind Porzellangasse. The U4 at Friedensbrücke is about five minutes away on foot.
What is it like to live at the Althangrund?
Central and quick to get anywhere: the U4 about five minutes away on foot, the tram at the door, the Liechtensteinpark and the Danube Canal nearby. In exchange, a large building site into the 2030s and, in the data, less quiet and more summer heat than the Viennese average. The Althangrund has no score of its own; the neighbouring Porzellangasse Grätzl reaches 87 out of 100.