In the 1990s, an Austrian television series caused a scandal. Die Piefke Saga, written by the Tyrolean author Felix Mitterer, portrayed in four darkly humorous and revealing episodes the relationship between the German tourist family Sattmann and their hosts in a fictional Tyrolean holiday resort. Despite all justified criticism of modern tourism and its sometimes extreme excesses, one should not forget that tourism in the nineteenth century was an important driving force for the development of Innsbruck and its surroundings—not only economically. The first travellers to visit Innsbruck were pilgrims and “business people” of the early modern period. Merchants, journeymen on their travels, officials, soldiers, entourages of visiting nobility, skilled labourers, miners, clergy, pilgrims, and scholars were the earliest “tourists” attracted to the city between Italy and the German lands. Travel was expensive, dangerous, and arduous. Moreover, many subjects were not permitted to leave their place of origin without the consent of their feudal lord or abbot. Those who travelled usually did so on foot. Although Innsbruck’s inns and taverns profited from travellers as early as the Middle Ages and the early modern period, tourism in the modern sense did not yet exist. This began only when a few eccentrics were first drawn to mountain peaks. For this to happen, not only was a growing middle class required, but also a new perception of the Alps. For a long time, mountains had been regarded purely as a threat. It was primarily the British who, having explored the world’s oceans, now sought to conquer its mountain ranges as well. From the late eighteenth century onward, during the Romantic period, travel accounts began to spread the idea of the natural beauty of the Alps. The first foreign-language travel guide to Tyrol, Travels through the Rhaetian Alps by Jean François Beaumont, appeared in 1796. In addition to the alpine scenery, it was also the “wild and exotic natives” of Tyrol that fascinated international audiences. The bearded rebel Andreas Hofer, who had managed to challenge Napoleon’s army with a peasant force, attracted as much attention in Britain—the traditional enemy of France—as among German nationalists north of the Alps, who saw in him a kind of proto-German figure. Tyroleans were perceived as a stubborn, archetypal, and untamed people, comparable to the Germanic tribes under Arminius who had once resisted the Roman Empire. Descriptions of Innsbruck by authors such as Beda Weber (1798–1858), along with other travel accounts in the rapidly expanding press landscape, helped shape an attractive image of the city.

The next step was to make the wild Alpine environment accessible to a growing number of tourists who wished to emulate early adventurers, even if their willingness to take risks and their physical fitness fell short. In 1869, the German Alpine Club established a section in Innsbruck, following the relatively unsuccessful founding of the Austrian Alpine Club in 1862. Driven by the Greater German idea shared by many members, the two associations merged in 1873. To this day, the Alpine Club retains a largely bourgeois character, while its social-democratic counterpart is the organisation Naturfreunde. The network of hiking trails expanded, as did the number of mountain huts capable of hosting guests. As a transit region, Tyrol already possessed numerous mule tracks and footpaths that had existed for centuries and now formed the basis for alpine tourism. Small inns, farms, and stations along postal routes served as accommodation. Key figures such as the Tyrolean theologian Franz Senn (1831–1884) and Adolf Pichler (1819–1900) were instrumental in surveying Tyrol and creating maps. Contrary to popular belief, the Tyroleans were not born mountaineers but had to learn how to master the alpine environment; previously, mountains had been viewed mainly as dangerous obstacles in agricultural life. The Alpine clubs also trained mountain guides. Around the turn of the century, skiing began to gain popularity alongside hiking and mountaineering. Ski lifts did not yet exist; to climb mountains, skins were attached to skis—a practice still used in ski touring today. Only from the 1920s onward, with the construction of cable cars to the Nordkette and Patscherkofel, did a wealthier clientele begin to enjoy the modern luxury of mechanised mountain access.

This development required new hotels, cafés, inns, shops, and modes of transport to meet the needs of visitors. Guests accustomed to running water and telephones in cities like London or Paris were not willing to accept basic conditions such as outdoor toilets. Inns of the first and second class were suitable for transit travellers but not equipped for more discerning tourists. Until the nineteenth century, innkeepers in Innsbruck and the surrounding villages belonged to the upper middle class in terms of income, but their profession was not considered particularly prestigious. Many were farmers who supplemented their income by serving food and drink. As local meeting points and hubs in postal and goods networks, inns were centres of information, yet innkeeping did not carry the status of a guild profession or bourgeois occupation. This changed with the professionalisation of tourism. Entrepreneurs such as Robert Nißl, who acquired Büchsenhausen Castle in 1865 and transformed it into a brewery, or Johann Gruber of the inn Zum Riesen Haymon, invested in tourism infrastructure. Former aristocratic estates such as Weiherburg were converted into inns and hotels. In Innsbruck, the true transformation did not occur on the barricades of 1848 but later, within the tourism sector, as ambitious citizens replaced aristocrats as owners of estates.

The Österreichischer Hof, opened in 1849, dominated early modern hospitality but was not yet a true grand hotel. That distinction only came with the opening of the Grand Hotel Europa in 1869. In 1892, the Habsburger Hof followed, offering modern comforts such as electric lighting—a sensation at the time. Hotels like the Kaiserhof and Arlberger Hof were located near the railway station, which at the time represented the centre of modern urban life rather than the congested traffic hubs of today.

Visitor numbers grew steadily. Shortly before the First World War, Innsbruck recorded around 200,000 guests annually. A report from June 1896 noted:

“Tourism in Innsbruck in the month of May amounted to 5,647 persons, including 2,763 from Austria-Hungary, 1,974 from the German Empire, 282 English, 65 Italians, 68 French, 53 Americans, 51 Russians, and 388 from various other countries.”

In addition to the sheer number of travellers influencing life in the small town of Innsbruck, it was also the international character of its visitors that gradually gave the city a new face. Beyond purely tourist infrastructure, general modern developments were also accelerated. Wealthy guests could hardly be expected to frequent inns with cesspits behind the building. While a sewage system would inevitably have been built sooner or later, the economic importance of tourism enabled and accelerated the allocation of funds for the major infrastructure projects of the turn of the century. This transformation affected not only the city’s appearance but also the everyday lives and working conditions of its inhabitants. Enterprising individuals such as Heinrich Menardi succeeded in expanding the value chain by offering paid leisure activities in addition to accommodation and food. In 1880, he founded the carriage hire and later automobile rental service Heinrich Menardi for excursions into the Alpine surroundings. Initially using horse-drawn carriages, and after the First World War buses and cars, affluent tourists were transported as far as Venice. The company still exists today and is now headquartered in the Menardi building at Wilhelm‑Greil‑Straße 17, opposite Landhausplatz, although it has since shifted from transport and trade to the more lucrative real estate sector. Local retail also benefited from the affluent international clientele. By 1909, there were already three dedicated tourist equipment shops in the city, alongside the fashionable department stores that had opened just a few years earlier.

Innsbruck and its surrounding areas also became known for spa tourism—the precursor of today’s wellness industry—where wealthy guests recovered from a wide range of ailments in an alpine environment. Spa facilities existed in Egerdach near Amras, in Mentlberg, and in Mühlau. Establishments such as the Igler Hof (then the Grand Hotel Igler Hof) and the Sporthotel Igls still retain some of the charm of that era. Michael Obexer, founder of the spa resort in Igls and owner of the grand hotel, was a pioneer of tourism. Although these facilities never achieved the international fame of major spa destinations such as Bad Ischl, Marienbad, or Baden near Vienna—as evidenced by historical photographs and postcards—the treatments offered, including brine baths, steam therapies, gymnastics, and even “magnetism,” corresponded to what was considered state of the art at the time and still partially resonates in today’s wellness practices. Perhaps the most spectacular tourism project Innsbruck ever experienced was “Hoch‑Innsbruck,” today known as the Hungerburg. Not only the funicular railway and hotels were built there; even an artificial lake was created after the turn of the century to attract visitors.

One of the former landowners in the Hungerburg area and a pioneer of Innsbruck tourism, Richard von Attlmayr, played a key role in the predecessor organisation of today’s tourism association. Since 1881, the Innsbruck Beautification Association had been concerned with meeting the growing needs of visitors. The association developed walking and hiking paths, installed benches, and opened up hard-to-access areas such as the Mühlauer Gorge and the Sill Gorge. The distinctive green benches along many paths still serve as a reminder of this organisation, which continues to exist today. Seven years later, in 1888, those benefiting from tourism in Innsbruck founded the Commission for the Promotion of Tourism, the predecessor of today’s tourism board. Through joint efforts in marketing and quality assurance among accommodation providers, businesses hoped to further stimulate tourism.

“Each year the number of overseas pilgrims visiting our country and its glacier-crowned mountains increases, much to the annoyance of our friendly Swiss neighbours, and many a fine dollar is left behind. The English are beginning to find Tyrol just as interesting as Switzerland, and the number of French and Dutch visitors spending the summer here grows year by year.”

Postcards became the first mass-market “influencers” in the history of tourism. Many businesses produced their own postcards, and publishers created countless images of the city’s most popular sights. It is striking what was considered worth seeing at the time. Unlike today, it was primarily the modern achievements of the city that were depicted: the Leopold Fountain, the city café near the theatre, the chain bridge, the cog railway to the Hungerburg, or the Stefansbrücke (opened in 1845), a stone arch bridge crossing the Sill. Andreas Hofer also served as an effective testimonial on postcards: the Schupfen inn, where he had established his headquarters, and the Bergisel with the large Andreas Hofer monument were popular motifs.

In 1914, Innsbruck had 17 hotels attracting visitors, supplemented by summer and winter holidaymakers in Igls and the Stubai Valley. The First World War abruptly brought this first wave of tourism to an end. Just as tourism began to recover in the late 1920s, the global economic crisis and Hitler’s 1,000-mark travel restriction in 1933—introduced to pressure the Austrian government into lifting the ban on the Nazi Party—dealt further blows.

It took the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s to revive tourism in Innsbruck after the destruction. Between 1955 and 1972, overnight stays in Tyrol increased fivefold. Following the hardships of the war years and the reconstruction of Europe’s economy, tourism became a stable source of income for Tyrol and Innsbruck, extending even beyond official hotels and guesthouses. Many Innsbruck families crowded more tightly into their already small apartments in order to rent out beds to foreign guests and supplement their income. Tourism not only brought foreign currency but also enabled locals to develop a new sense of identity, both internally and externally. At the same time, increasing prosperity allowed more Innsbruck residents to travel abroad themselves. The beaches of Italy became particularly popular destinations. Former wartime enemies thus became guests and hosts to one another.

In den 1920er und 30er wuchs und gedieh die NSDAP auch in Tirol. Die erste Ortsgruppe Innsbrucks wurde bereits 1923 gegründet. Mit „Der Nationalsozialist - Combat Gazette for Tyrol and Vorarlberg“ erschien ein eigenes Wochenblatt. 1933 erlebte die NSDAP mit dem Rückenwind aus Deutschland auch in Innsbruck einen kometenhaften Aufstieg. Die Modernität der Partei mit ihrem demonstrativ-revolutionären Antiklerikalismus und die Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten, die sie bot, sprach vor allem junge Menschen an. Das Neue, das Aufräumen mit alten Hierarchien und Strukturen wie der katholischen Kirche, der Umbruch und der noch nie dagewesene Stil zogen sie an. Besonders unter den großdeutsch gesinnten Burschen der Studentenverbindungen und vielfach auch unter Professoren war der Nationalsozialismus beliebt. Wer bereits oben war, sehnte sich nach den Zeiten vor dem allgemeinen Wahlrecht zurück, als Sozialdemokraten noch nichts zu melden hatten. Die demokratische Republik war konservativen Eliten ein Gräuel. Wer nach oben wollte, den Sozialdemokraten aber nichts abgewinnen konnte, konnte der sperrigen Demokratie ebenfalls nur wenig abgewinnen. Die allgemeine Unzufriedenheit und Politikverdrossenheit der Bürger kombiniert mit theatralisch inszenierten Fackelzügen durch die Stadt samt hakenkreuzförmiger Bergfeuer auf der Nordkette und einem regen Vereinsleben verhalfen der NSDAP schnell zu Popularität. Über 1800 Innsbrucker waren Mitglied der SA, die ihr Quartier in der Bürgerstraße 10 hatte. Konnten die Nationalsozialisten bei ihrem ersten Antreten bei einer Gemeinderatswahl 1921 nur 2,8% der Stimmen erringen, waren es bei den Wahlen 1933 bereits 41%. Nicht nur die Wahl Hitlers zum Reichskanzler in Deutschland, auch Kampagnen und Manifestationen in Innsbruck verhalfen der ab 1934 in Österreich verbotenen Partei zu diesem Ergebnis. Neun Mandatare, darunter der spätere Innsbrucker Bürgermeister Egon Denz und der Gauleiter Tirols Franz Hofer, zogen in den Gemeinderat ein.

When Austria was annexed by Germany in March 1938 (Anschluss), scenes resembling a civil war unfolded in Innsbruck. In the period leading up to the invasion, repeated marches and rallies by National Socialists had already taken place after the ban on the party had been lifted. Even before Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg concluded his final address to the Austrian people on 11 March 1938 with the words “God protect Austria” prior to handing over power to the National Socialists, Nazi supporters had already gathered in Innsbruck’s city centre to celebrate the impending arrival of German troops. The police were partly sympathetic to the organized demonstrations and partly powerless in the face of the unrest. Government buildings and Maria-Theresien-Straße were sealed off and secured with machine-gun positions, but decisive action by the authorities was out of the question. Cries of “One People, One Reich, One Führer” echoed through the city. The threat posed by the German military and the mobilization of SA units eliminated the last remaining doubts. Increasing numbers of enthusiastic citizens joined the demonstrations. The swastika flag was raised both at the Tyrolean government building (Landhaus), which at that time was still located on Maria-Theresien-Straße, and at the provisional Nazi headquarters in the Alt-Innsprugg inn. On 12 March, a large portion of Innsbruck’s population greeted the German military forces with great enthusiasm. To ensure a hospitable reception for the National Socialists, Mayor Egon Denz ordered that every worker be paid an entire week’s wages. On 5 April, Adolf Hitler personally visited Innsbruck to receive the adulation of the crowds. Archival photographs show euphoric masses awaiting the leader whom many believed would bring salvation. On the Nordkette mountain range above the city, bonfires in the shape of swastikas were lit. The plebiscite held on 10 April produced a result of more than 99 percent in favour of Austria’s annexation to Germany. After the economic hardship of the interwar period, the Great Depression, and the governments of Dollfuss and Schuschnigg, many people were exhausted and longed for change. At that moment, the specific nature of that change was often less important than change itself. “Showing those at the top” was one of Hitler’s central promises. The Wehrmacht and the growing arms industry offered young people prospects for employment and advancement, including many who felt little personal attachment to National Socialist ideology. The nostalgically cherished dream of a Greater Germany had a long tradition in Tyrol. The promise of bringing the German-speaking South Tyroleans “home into the Reich” and thus correcting what many regarded as the injustice of the Brenner border was also received favourably. Furthermore, outbreaks of political violence were unfortunately not unusual in Austria during the interwar years. Unlike today, democracy was not yet a system to which people had become accustomed. The period between the collapse of the monarchy in 1918 and the dissolution of parliament under Dollfuss in 1933 had been short and was marked by political extremism. What does not truly exist in the minds of a population as an established reality need not be abolished.

Tyrol and Vorarlberg were merged into a single Reichsgau (administrative district of the German Reich), with Innsbruck serving as its capital. Although National Socialism was viewed with skepticism by a considerable portion of the population, there was hardly any organized, let alone armed, resistance. The Catholic resistance group OE5 and the political left in Tyrol were simply too weak. Isolated acts of unorganized, subversive behavior did occur, particularly in the rural communities around Innsbruck, but they remained exceptions. The regime’s apparatus of power dominated everyday life too comprehensively. Many jobs and other privileges depended on at least an outward display of loyalty to the party. While most people were spared imprisonment, the fear of arrest was ever-present. The regime under Gauleiter Franz Hofer and Gestapo chief Werner Hilliges proved highly effective in suppressing opposition. The clergy were regarded as the regime’s primary adversaries, and the Catholic Church was therefore targeted on every level. Catholic schools were repurposed, youth organizations and associations were banned, monasteries were closed, religious instruction was abolished, and a church tax was introduced. Particularly outspoken priests, such as Otto Neururer, were sent to concentration camps. Local politicians, including the future mayors of Innsbruck, Franz Greiter and Anton Melzer, also faced persecution. Melzer, who had lost an arm fighting for “God, Emperor, and Fatherland” during the First World War, was forced either to flee or was imprisoned. Attempting even a broad overview of the violence and crimes committed against the Jewish population, the clergy, political suspects, civilians, and prisoners of war would far exceed the scope of this account. At Innsbruck University Hospital, people with disabilities and others whom the regime deemed undesirable, including homosexuals, were subjected to forced sterilization. In 1941, the Reichenau Labour Camp was established in the Rossau district near Innsbruck’s municipal works yard. Approximately 120 people died in this barracks camp as a result of disease, harsh living conditions, workplace accidents, or executions. The forced labourers, most of them Jewish, Russian, or Italian, were employed in the Messerschmitt factories in Kematen and on numerous construction projects, including the building of the South Tyrolean Settlements (Südtiroler Siedlungen) and the excavation of tunnels intended to protect the population from air raids in southern Innsbruck. Memorial sites commemorating the National Socialist era are relatively few and far between. The most prominent monument is probably the Tyrolean Government Building (Tiroler Landhaus) with its Liberation Memorial (Befreiungsdenkmal). At the Old University (Alte Universität) on Herrengasse, a bronze plaque recalls that the Gestapo once had its headquarters there. Suspects were interrogated under torture, severely abused, and in some cases beaten to death with bare fists. The square in front of the university and a small memorial column at the southern entrance of the hospital were likewise designed to commemorate what was arguably the darkest chapter in Austria’s history. In the Rossau district, a memorial site has been established at the location of the former Reichenau Labour Camp.

The final decades of the 19th century became known in Austrian history as the Gründerzeit (Founders’ Era). After the economic crisis of 1873, the financial situation recovered and an unprecedented construction boom began. Innsbruck also established a modern banking system. Financial institutions such as the Savings Bank founded in 1821 and the Creditanstalt, whose building erected in 1910 still towers over Maria-Theresien-Straße like a small palace, made it possible to obtain loans, without which entrepreneurship and commerce as we know them today would not have been possible. In some cases, these financial institutions even acted as developers themselves. Between 1880 and 1900, Innsbruck’s population grew from 20,000 to 26,000 inhabitants, while Wilten, incorporated into the city in 1904, even tripled its population from 4,000 to 12,000. The number of buildings increased from 600 to more than 900. Most of them, unlike previous buildings, were multi-story apartment houses. Infrastructure was also modernized. Gas, running water, and electricity became part of everyday life for an increasing number of people. These buildings represented the new society. Entrepreneurs, professionals, employees, and workers had different needs than the legally dependent subjects of previous centuries. The urban lifestyle demanded apartments with several rooms and open spaces for recreation after working hours. Apartment buildings made a modern lifestyle possible even for people who did not own property. Unlike the rural regions of Tyrol, where farming families lived together with servants in farmhouses as part of an extended kinship community, life in the city was already quite close to our present-day understanding of family life. Although the upper middle class had not yet surpassed the nobility, it had reduced the gap considerably and, through its new position on the municipal council, was able not only to commission private building projects but also to decide on public construction projects. The old city hospital in the center of town was replaced by a modern hospital in the west; Sieberer’s orphanage and retirement home were established in Saggen, and a new urban center emerged around the railway station.

The forty years preceding the First World War were a gold rush era for the construction industry. The architecture of the buildings reflected the worldview of their owners. Master builders often assumed several roles and frequently replaced architects altogether. Most clients had very clear ideas about what they wanted. They were not seeking breathtaking new creations but rather copies of or adaptations based on existing buildings. In keeping with the spirit of the age, Innsbruck’s master builders designed structures according to the wishes of their financially powerful clients in the styles of Historicism, Classicism, and the Tyrolean Heimatstil. The style chosen for a home was often not merely an aesthetic decision but also an ideological statement by the owner. Liberals generally preferred Classicism, while conservatives were drawn to the Tyrolean Heimatstil. Whereas the Heimatstil presented itself in a Neo-Baroque form with abundant paintings, clear forms, statues, and columns were characteristic elements of Classical-inspired architecture. In what was sometimes a rather wild mixture of styles, people realized their ideas of classical Greece and ancient Rome. Not only railway stations and public buildings but also large apartment buildings, entire streets, churches, and even cemeteries were built along former country roads in this design. Academics—and those wishing to appear as such—demonstrated their fascination with antiquity through neoclassical façades. Catholic traditionalists commissioned murals depicting saints and scenes from Tyrolean history on their Heimatstil houses. While Neoclassicism predominates in Saggen and Wilten, the district of Pradl is largely characterized by conservative Heimatstil architecture. For a long time, many architectural experts looked down upon the tastes of social climbers and the newly rich. Heinrich Hammer wrote in his standard work Art History of the City of Innsbruck:

"Of course, this first rapid expansion of the city took place in an era that was unfruitful in terms of architectural art, in which architecture, instead of developing an independent, contemporary style, repeated the architectural styles of the past one after the other."

The era of grand villas, which imitated the aristocratic residences of former times with a bourgeois touch, came to an end after several exuberant decades simply because space became scarce. Further development of the city with detached houses was no longer possible. Even today, the area around Falkstraße, Gänsbachstraße, and Bienerstraße is known as Villensaggen, while the areas further east are referred to as Blocksaggen. Wilten and Pradl, however, never experienced this kind of development. Nevertheless, in their gold-rush enthusiasm, developers sealed ever more land with construction. In 1907, Albert Gruber delivered a warning speech about this growth, cautioning against unchecked urban expansion and land speculation.

"It is the most difficult and responsible task facing our city fathers. Up until the 1980s (note: 1880), let's say in view of our circumstances, a certain slow pace was maintained in urban expansion. Since the last 10 years, however, it can be said that cityscapes have been expanding at a tremendous pace. Old houses are being torn down and new ones erected in their place. Of course, if this demolition and construction is carried out haphazardly, without any thought, only for the benefit of the individual, then disasters, so-called architectural crimes, usually occur. In order to prevent such haphazard building, which does not benefit the general public, every city must ensure that individuals cannot do as they please: the city must set a limit to unrestricted speculation in the area of urban expansion. This includes above all land speculation."

A handful of master builders, together with the Innsbruck Building Authority, guided this development. If Wilhelm Greil can be called the mayor of Innsbruck’s expansion, then the Vienna-born Eduard Klingler (1861–1916) certainly deserves the title of its architect. As a public official and master builder, Klingler left a profound mark on Innsbruck’s cityscape. He began working for the Province of Tyrol in 1883. In 1889 he joined the municipal building authority, which he headed from 1902 onward. Among the projects attributed to Klingler as head of the building authority are the Commercial Academy, the Leitgeb School, Pradl Cemetery, the Dermatological Clinic within the hospital complex, the Municipal Kindergarten on Michael-Gaismair-Straße, the Train Barracks (today a residential building), the Market Hall, and the Tyrolean State Conservatory. One particularly noteworthy Heimatstil building designed by him is the Ulrich House on Bergisel, which today serves as the headquarters of the Old Kaiserjäger Club.

The most important construction company in Innsbruck was Johann Huter & Sons. Johann Huter took over his father’s brickworks. In 1856 he acquired the company’s first property, the Huter Grounds, on Innrain. Three years later the first business headquarters was established on Meranerstraße. The company’s official founding came in 1860 when it was registered together with his sons Josef and Peter. Like many of its competitors, Huter & Sons saw itself as a full-service provider. The company included its own brickworks, cement factory, carpentry shop, metal workshop, design office, and construction firm. By the outbreak of the First World War, it employed more than 700 people. In 1906/07, the Huter family built their residential and business headquarters at Kaiser-Josef-Straße 15 in the typical style of the late pre-war years. This stately house combines the Tyrolean Heimatstil, surrounded by gardens and nature, with Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque elements. Well-known buildings erected by Huter & Sons in Innsbruck include the Monastery of Perpetual Adoration, St. Nicholas Parish Church, the first building of the new hospital complex, and several buildings on Claudiaplatz.

The second major player was Josef Retter (1872–1954). Born in Lower Austria with Tyrolean roots, he completed an apprenticeship as a mason before attending the Imperial-Royal State Trade School in Vienna and the master craftsman school of its construction department. After gaining professional experience throughout the Habsburg Monarchy—in Vienna, Croatia, and Bolzano—he was able, thanks to his wife’s dowry, to establish his own construction company in Innsbruck at the age of 29. Like Huter’s company, his enterprise also included a sawmill, a sand and gravel works, and a stonemasonry workshop. In 1904 he built his residential and office building. The dark Neo-Gothic Retter House at Schöpfstraße 23a, with its distinctive bay window supported by columns and a turret, is decorated with a remarkable mosaic representing an allegory of architecture. The relief on the gable depicts the union of art and craftsmanship, symbolizing Retter’s career path. Retter’s buildings particularly shaped Wilten and Saggen. Through projects such as the new Academic Gymnasium, the castle-like Commercial Academy building, the Protestant Christ Church in Saggen, the Zelger House on Anichstraße, Sonnenburg in Wilten, and the Neo-Gothic Mentlberg Castle in Sieglanger, he created many of the most important buildings of this era in Innsbruck.

Late in life but with a similarly practice-orientated background that was typical of 19th century master builders, Anton Fritz started his construction company in 1888. He grew up remotely in Graun in the Vinschgau Valley. After working as a foreman, plasterer and bricklayer, he decided to attend the trade school in Innsbruck at the age of 36. Talent and luck brought him his breakthrough as a planner with the country-style villa at Karmelitergasse 12. In its heyday, his construction company employed 150 people. In 1912, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and the resulting slump in the construction industry, he handed over his company to his son Adalbert. Anton Fritz's legacy includes his own home at Müllerstraße 4, the Mader house in Glasmalereistraße and houses on Claudiaplatz and Sonnenburgplatz.

With Carl Kohnle, Carl Albert, Karl Lubomirski, and Simon Tommasi, Innsbruck possessed several other master builders who left their mark on the cityscape through typical buildings of the late 19th century. Together, they shaped Innsbruck’s new streets in the prevailing architectural spirit of the final thirty years of the Habsburg Monarchy. Residential houses, railway stations, government buildings, and churches throughout the vast empire stretching from Ukraine to Tyrol looked remarkably similar. New movements such as Art Nouveau gained acceptance only slowly. In Innsbruck, it was the Munich architect Josef Bachmann who introduced a new accent to bourgeois design with the redesign of the façade of the Winkler House. With the outbreak of the First World War, construction activity largely ceased. After the war, the era of neoclassical Historicism and the Heimatstil was definitively over. Times had become harsher, and the requirements for housing had changed. In the period of severe housing shortages in the young Republic of German-Austria, affordable housing and modern sanitary facilities became more important than representative façades and grand rooms. The increasingly professional education of master builders and architects at the Imperial-Royal State Trade School also contributed to a new understanding of construction, replacing the often self-taught veterans of the gold-rush era of Classicism. A stroll through Saggen and parts of Wilten and Pradl still transports visitors back to the Gründerzeit. Claudiaplatz and Sonnenburgplatz are among the most impressive examples. The construction company Huter & Sons still exists today. The company is now located in Sieglanger on Josef-Franz-Huter-Straße, named after its founder. Although the residential building on Kaiser-Josef-Straße no longer bears the company’s name, it remains, in all its opulence, a remarkable relic of the period that permanently transformed Innsbruck’s appearance. In addition to his residence on Schöpfstraße, the district of Wilten contains a second building associated with the Retter family. Opposite the university on Innrain stands Villa Retter. Josef Retter’s eldest daughter, Maria Josefa, who herself had been educated according to the principles of the reform educator Maria Montessori, opened Innsbruck’s first Haus des Kindes (“House of the Child”) in 1932. Above the entrance, a portrait depicts the benefactor Josef Retter. The south façade is adorned with a mosaic in the characteristic style of the 1930s, referring to the building’s original purpose. A smiling blond girl embraces her mother, who is holding a book, and her father, who carries a hammer. The family crypt at Westfriedhof Cemetery is another notable legacy of the Retter family.