a visit to Schindler's Clubhouse for Actors

While working for Myer & Mayer in Vienna, right out of school, Schindler designed a "Clubhouse for Actors" at 6 Dorotheergasse. This is Schindler's first built work. Sarnitz (1993) states that "...it seems evident that this design reflects the intentions of his employer more than his own intentions, and therefore this should not be considered with the other Schindler projects." Regardless, the building was published in Der Architekt (1912), albeit under the name of the architect of record, Hans Mayr.

From the narrow street, the building appears nearly the same as in the architectural drawing and doesn't exude anything special, either today or for its time. There are touches of Modernism on the first floor with with large bay windows and the simple geometries and lack or ornamentation inside. The entrance is slightly different  and the windows are updated although they retain the original rhythm of the design. A cafe holds court in the northeastern corner of the building. A theater, now billiard bar and a club, still exists on the first floor.

The cafe, Cafe Hawelka (Künstlerkaffeehaus Hawelka) was opened in 1939 by Leopold Hawelka. The cafe was a haunt for many local writers in the 1950s and 1960s. Arthur Miller and Andy Warhol stopped in. The cafe serves a mean wiener melange. The interior of the original cafe was designed by a student of Adolf Loos, and much of this original design remains.

The painter Adolf Frankl also lived in the building.