VILLA REISS

The existing structures were later adapted

possibly after the acquisition of the property by Simon and Juliane Reiss in 1863, possibly from a Dr. Thierl, originally a Viennese lawyer who owned the real estate at that time.

In addition to the buildings, the area also has extensive cellars and tunnels into the mountain that served as protection and with cisterns that supplied water during the Second World War.

Simon Reiss (born in Weißensulz/Bělá nad Radbuzou, Bohemia, April 4, 1810–July 12, 1870) came to Linz after his medical studies in 1842 to head the new Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy. In particular, he took his homeopathic approach to healing to new heights, which also brought him a thriving private practice for wealthy Linz families.

His son Hermann Reiss (born in Linz, 1851–1933) also studied medicine in Vienna, stayed there for a few years, and returned to Linz in 1880. In 1889, he became chief physician at the Isabellen Children’s Hospital. He received piano lessons from Anton Bruckner and his father subsequently received further training in bass and harmonics from Bruckner as well.

On July 26, 1882, another illustrious Linz citizen, Fritz Reiss, was born on Klammgasse. Like his well-known forefathers, he studied medicine in Vienna, Graz and Leipzig after graduating from the State Grammar School on Spittelwiese. In 1913, at the age of 31, he became the chief physician at the Isabellen Children’s Hospital, devoted himself early on to child nutrition, and then produced his own brand of children’s food with the help of the bakery Neuhauser & Obermeyr (later Ringbrot). Further training in the health care field was his constant concern, so he also taught at the midwives’ college, as well as the nursing school.

In his extensive memoirs

which were made available to the City of Linz, Fritz Reiss also reports on the walks with his father to his grandparents’ house, taken from his parents’ apartment at Klammgasse 2 up to the Reiss Villa, at Fritz-Lach-Weg 5, which still bore the address Mariahilfgasse 45 at that time, and Waldegg No. 8, before the area was incorporated into Linz. This section of the street was first renamed in 1934 to commemorate the famous Linz-born landscape painter, who died in Vienna in 1933.

From 1890 to 1915, the Reiss family lived at Herrenstrasse 8, a wondrous coincidence, as it emerged in the course of the research that the head office of the foundation has been located at the very same place since 2002, in a townhouse magnificently renovated by Franz Josef Perotti. The Fritz Reiss family then moved to Auerspergstrasse 19.

In 1919 he married Friederike Höchsmann, the daughter of a well-known family from Urfahr.

The original acquisition of the Reiss Villa in the 19th century was, of course, a financial challenge for the family. As the head of a hospital, one did not earn as in today’s spheres, but was nonetheless able to take on mortgages and investments.

The stock market crash of 1873 particularly caused the family heavy losses, which also had to be compensated by the first sales of land parcels.

Especially in the summer months, rooms were rented to Linz families such as Baron Seillern, Traxlmayr or the opera singer Krämer. By the same token, the women ran a small farm with cows, sheep, chickens and some orchards, with the help of maids and farmhands who also lived on the grounds.

After the First World War, there were also long-term leases, such as to Privy Councilor Spaun, who moved from Vienna to Linz on account of the food situation—the very same Spaun family that had already sponsored Franz Schubert in Linz.

In 1931, the property itself was signed over to Fritz Reiss, who in turn transferred it to his children Gerhard and Hedwig in 1963, whereby half of the property had already been transferred in 1922, against the assumption of tax burdens by the children.

In the course of the Second World War

“compulsory rentals” went into effect again, whereby Mrs. Watzlawick, the nurse of Hermann Reiss, received an apartment, as well as Antonio Cuturi and his wife Ilse, née Streit, who then returned “down” to the city at Auerspergstrasse 19 in an apartment swap with Fritz Lach. Likewise, a family named Kaiser is noted as a tenant.

In 1944, the houses of the villa suffered heavy damage from bombers that were not able to drop their loads over the Hermann Göring Works. Master builder Anton Kneidinger began with reconstruction work in 1952. At that time the surrounding park was also reduced through the sale of property. Parts of the ensemble had also been listed after the war.

Fritz Riess was first able to use the family estate on Freinberg Mountain extensively after his retirement. He died on October 10, 1966 in Linz.

Sources:

Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz, 1987

Österreichische Kunsttopographie, Band LV Die profanen Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Linz, III. Teil. Herausgegeben vom Bundesdenkmalamt, Abteilung für Inventarisation und Denkmalforschung

Verzeichnis der k.u.k. Hauptstadt Linz und seiner Vorstädte, 1825

k.u.k. Instanzkalender für das Erzherzogtum Österreich ob der Enns 1813

Josef Angsüßer, Anton Ritter von Spaun. Seine Persönlichkeit und seine literarischen Werke, Jahrbuch des Oberösterreichischen Musealvereines 85 (1933): 1–68.

Archives of the City of Linz

Online Archive of the Anton Bruckner Institute

Memoirs of Dr. Fritz Lach, handwritten records in the Archives of the City of Linz