Have you ever wondered, while enjoying a leisurely Sunday breakfast, who was sitting in your kitchen over 100 years ago? You can find the answer on the Vienna Library’s web platform anytime, from anywhere, and best of all, completely free of charge.
First, a quick tip: If you’re in the mood for more time travel, you can journey to ancient Machu Picchu, ancient Egypt, or straight back to the age of the dinosaurs in northeast Vienna!
The Ultimate Time Machine for Vienna: “Adolph Lehmann’s General Housing Guide”
The old address books document Vienna through the ages. It’s especially fascinating to take a look at your own neighborhood. Where trendy shops stand today, cigar makers, coal merchants, and brush makers still had their businesses in the 1920s.
At its peak, the “Lehmann” listed hundreds of thousands of Viennese residents, complete with their exact job titles and addresses. From famous figures like Sigmund Freud to ordinary craftsmen and civil servants of the monarchy— almost everyone who ran their own household in Vienna is immortalized in these thick tomes.
If you want even more detail, take a look at the so-called “Häuserschematismen.” These registers list, house by house, who owned what and which landowner once held sway there.
Here’s how to start your journey back in time to historic Vienna
All editions of the address and street directories are conveniently available online. The Vienna Library has scanned the hundreds of pages in high resolution. You can select an interesting year and search for your last name, specific industries, or your current address.
A quick tip for the old script
If you’re having trouble deciphering the old German letters, you can easily use your smartphone to translate the passages—for example, with Google Lens. It’s also worth checking beforehand to see if your street might have had a different name during the Imperial era.
These old street directories will help you out: Since Vienna grew rapidly through annexations and hundreds of alleys had to be renamed, these lists serve as a guide to finding your current address in old Vienna.
