Coffee house culture is as much a part of Vienna as the Wurstelprater and the Grant. In addition to classic, traditional establishments such as the Sperl, there are also many modern or unusual concepts, such as the Gota Speciality Café or the Fenster Café. At the latter, you can even enjoy your drink from a cone, but everything is only available to go. If you ‘re looking for an extraordinary coffee experience where you can linger for a while, then you should pay a visit to the Aufzug Café in the fourth district.
Unusual collecting passion
People collect all sorts of things: stamps, coins, snow globes, movies, shoes, etc. But you don’t hear about people collecting elevators every day. Christian Tauss pursues this very passion and shares his enthusiasm with you in his café. As a trained electrical engineer, his job often brought him into contact with old elevators that needed to be repaired.
This developed into an interest and eventually a collection when he began saving old cabins from the scrap heap. He is less interested in the technology behind the elevator than in their stories and the people who rode them.
“To the café on the ground floor, please.”
Christian wanted to exhibit the old Art Nouveau elevators, but not in a traditional museum. He wanted to present them in a lively context, which ultimately gave rise to the idea for the Elevator Café. It became a small shop in the fourth district, not far from Belvedere Palace. Here you can see three of his fifteen elevators up close and take a seat in them. One of them was once a paternoster elevator located in the former CA headquarters at Schottentor. The wooden cabins with their small viewing windows and red benches exude a rustic coziness.
Christian has since trained as a barista and serves you coffee and tea in a lift boy uniform. Unlike the elevators, however, the uniform is not historical, but comes from a costume rental shop. With your drink of choice, you can enjoy cakes that Christian bakes himself every day, as well as croissants and Franzbrötchen from the bakery around the corner. If you’re in the mood for a cozy, nostalgic afternoon, visit Christian Tauss at his Aufzug Café.
📍 Address: Aufzug Café, Wiedner Gürtel 4
🕐 Opening hours: Wed-Sun, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.