Apartment Building Simmering II

In Kaiserebersdorf, next to Albern and Simmering, also part of the 11th Viennese city district, today's Vienna Simmering Prison is located in the former hunting and summer residence of the Habsburgs, which was one of the top pieces of real estate of the Habsburgs until the 16th century when it was surpassed by Schönbrunn Palace and Neugebäude Palace.

The palace fell to the Habsburgs as part of an exchange of goods. It was initially redesigned and expanded in the middle of the 16th century, also followed by the baroque style, and during its peak was home to an extensive zoo. During excavations in the 1990s, amazingly well-preserved remains of former existing fortifications came to light such as an inside moat, kennels, an enclosing wall with towers, stockades and an outside moat that used to be fed by the Schwechat River.

Among the historical buildings, there is also the Gasometer in Simmering that opened in 1899, and was at one time the largest gas works on the continent. One hundred years later, the now empty gas tanks were revitalised into lively buildings. Today, you can find a shopping mall as well as a cinema and the city archives in addition to apartments, shops and restaurants.