4Loos American Bar
For fans of architecture, the Loos Bar is a must while in Vienna. Adolf Loos, one of the seminal modern architects, is best-known for his infamous Looshaus (1910-12), a provocatively undecorated building right across from the Imperial Palace on Michaelerplatz.
The American Bar (1907), hidden on a downtown side street off Kärntner Straße, embodies Loos's stylistic philosophy: exquisite materials – marble, mahogany, alabaster – without superfluous decorations. The dim cocktail bar is tiny, the impact striking (lots of mirrors are meant to enlarge the space). That portrait hanging on the wall: he's Peter Altenberg, a close friend of Loos and a famous Viennese coffeehouse poet. The crowd is heavy on tourists and scoring one of the precious seats is nearly impossible, but keep your eyes on the prize.
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