everyone who lives in vienna / know the karl marx hof knows what place is meant. there is one main entrance right infront of the subway station, pretty easy actually
@@Autoskip if you laid it on its side it would be almost identical to how it is now, if you stood it on its end, it would reach up to the stratosphere.
@@OHYS I actually never really realized it too, when you drive through it, you don't really get any view of how long it is, and when you drive along it, you usually watch the road, and don't realize its all just one building. Then again, I live outside Vienna, and don't get there very often lol.
It's kind of easy not to notice. It's not a high building, same as all the others around, and it's broken up by streets going through it with arches above them.
In fact, those buildings were called “Arbeiterburgen”, or, in English, “fortresses of the working class“. Which they actually were. I mean, it says a lot if a building has to be pounded by artillery in the event of an uprising…
@@PatricioGarcia1973 - they were called “working class fortresses” for a reason ;-) Also, similar buildings of that age also have this kind of gate, it is only after WW2 that the buildings lost their castle-like character.
@Social Dissidence - the thing is, it is actually very comfortable to live here. You will practically always have playgrounds, shops, doctors, kindergartens,… _inside_ the building complex, in my case, although the complex was younger and thus no longer of the “fortress”-type, even my primary school was there, and since I almost lived door to door to my school, it took less than a minute to get there. There are actually great places, if you should come to Vienna, a “Gemeinedebau” is absolutely on any must-see-list.
@@mediocreman6323 hello from your once Imperial brother city, Budapest. Vienna is definitely the most familiar of foreign cities, I would love to live there. I don't speak German though, especially Austrian German, even though I have a bit of a passive understanding thanks to spending a few days each summer for a few years there when I was a kid, and also the early morning cartoons on Sat1, Pro7, and RTL on cable when I was a kid. And that weird ball instructing phone game on Sat1. :D
Just a little tip: there's a better way to measure building length on Google Maps. Right click on one end of the building, select "measure distance" and then click on the other end of the building. You can get way more precise and easy measurements that way
Thanks for the great tip! I tried the function in Google Maps and found that the areal for the building in Warzaw is 19778,96 m2 or 212898,96ft2. Great tool! :)
I’ve been doing this for years now since they taught us how to do it at school for one specific assignment. It is actually very useful and I use it a lot.
they even have a museum in that building. Formerly this was the washhouse of the Karl-Marx Hof. But since people are having now their own washing machine in every apartment they turned this washhouse into a museum about the history of the Social Democratic municipal administration of the city of Vienna
@@hoizhockaaut-gamingundco6341 Seems like the museum is in the 04:18 mark. The one you pointed out, it's a kindergarten one of the two they have just in that complex. I'm feeling jealous.
North East Outrider It could always be worse. Imagine if you had to actually walk to your destination instead of fly. Even though it’s been a while since I’ve done any flying, I have felt your pain before. When you have to get on a tram/trolly/people mover of any type to get from gate “X” to gate “Y” , that’s a long way to be walking if a person had too!
The length of the structure is by no means the main thing to admire here. The 'mildly interesting architectural features' that you refer to are no such thing; they are a deeply interesting testimony to a time when socialism was held in high-regard; as such they are very important historically. This building is an absolute gem. I can only hope that the Vienna authorities take whatever steps are necessary to preserve it.
I think a worthy mention in this category is the old airport Berlin-Tempelhof with its length of 1200m. Its worthy because you can actually see one end from the other because its an arc. I think that is pretty darn impressive 😄
Just my 2 Cents and a little context: All in all, there are about 220,000 city-owned flats and 200,000 co-operative flats in Vienna, which make the City of Vienna the biggest public owner of social housing estates in Europe.
The City of Vienna is the largest property owner in Europe. 220,000 appartments (500,000 residents) 6,000 business premises 47,000 garages and parking spaces, a total area of 13,444,841 square meters. Update Oct 2023 In addition to the properties listed above, the city of Vienna owns undeveloped land worth 5.7 billion euros. In the last year and a half alone, the city bought an additional 62,000 square meters, but only 3,400 square meters were sold. This makes the city of Vienna the third largest land owner in Austria.
@@Henrik46 Iam on your side and would argue that they should own even more. A public housing market is a market which is democraticly controlled. Housing is a fundamental right as stated for example in the german constitution.
Fun fact: Bell Labs in the US (actually within walking distance of my house) actually used to have the longest single straight hallway in the world, at 1/4 mile (402.336 meters) in length. Sadly, around half of it was demolished when the facility was renovated a while back. But it’s a nice piece of history.
KDF seebad Rügen was a never finished nazi hotel intended to stretch 4.5 kilometers. A couple of things happened and it never got finished, a couple more things happened and today the surviving 3 kilometers are slowly being renovated for vacation and housing purposes. There are some gaps inbetween complexes but it's definitely a long building worth checking out
Interesting fact : Theres building in Lincoln, England called the Titanic Building. This is because they built it to be the exact height and lenghth as the ship.
In Belgrade, Blok 21 has one of the longest residential buildings. It is about 1km long, but it is like if communist played the Snake before Nokia 3310 was invented. By far, the biggest by volume is Romaniam parlament.
This building is owned by the city. The city(Wiener Wohnen) has around 220000 properties. Approx. 500000 people live in them. Wiener Wohnen is the largest real estate owner of Europe.
@@ppsarrakis A few cities are banning it now, the trick is getting it banned before the locals are already pushed out. If there's nobody left in the city but investors and Chinese, they control the city council and you can't stop them. There may still be hope even then, though. Vancouver, Canada waited too long to keep its lifelong locals, but then the investors who kicked out the locals ended up voting in a city council that wanted empty house taxes anyway, because even the richest Canadians couldn't compete with China anymore.
Calling the wall in China the longest "building" is like calling certain radio towers the highest "building". Sure, they are one-piece constructions, but not really buildings in the common sense. And that building in Ukraine not only goes around a corner, it also does a zig-zag line, thats cheating ;)
Why? It does not say the building with the longest one dimension - but the longest building. It wouldn't change a thing if you coiled it up into a spiral either.
@@ABaumstumpf that's one of the reasons: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox If we include zig-zags, then we could make relatively small building count as extra-long by doing stupid sharp cuts into it.
niter43 Coastlines are hard with tides and so, but yes a virtual 1m wide walkway along the coast you walk, that’s the coastline and not the little drawings on a map or an ants view of the coastline. The cern tunnel for example is a long circular building and its longer than its diameter.
I've been to Karl Marx Hof and it was pretty impressive, but since it's stretching across several streets it didn't leave the same impact as "Falowiec" in Gdansk, Poland. Falowiec is shorter (about 800m) but feels more like one coherently building. And yes, the already often mentioned Prora-district, is very impressive indeed. I visited that site a couple of times and it's still jawdropping.
Similarly, the "mur-écran" in Fermont, Québec is a very long housing complex in this Boreal city. It helps to travel inside when the temperature drop at -50 degrees celcius during winter. It also serves as a wall to block the strong northern winds, hence make the city of Fermont a more liveable place.
they even have a museum in that building. Formerly this was the washhouse of the Karl-Marx Hof. But since people are having now their own washing machine in every apartment they turned this washhouse into a museum about the history of the Social Democratic municipal administration of the city of Vienna
To be honest: It is impressive, but the surroundings aren't. You can get to the Kalenberg and its Heurigen --- and that's nice. But the area is pretty boring compared to the rest of vienna. And there are some more spectacular public housing projects in the city - although smaller.
I'm jealous of all the fuel efficient wagons I see parked on that street. North Americans decided against them decades ago, so now everything with cargo space is on stilts here. I also saw a 2 door Fiesta van - we had the Fiesta here but never a cargo version!
It is nice that something of the left tradition of vienna shines up. When you are at the building it does not seem as one big building, because it has many courtyards, passages, portals, playing grounds, trams going around and so on. Some of the style seems to be adopted in the very beautifull Stalinstadt, which is part of Eisenhüttenstadt. Also big courtyards and round portals, but the buildings are less massive, much more light and floating in the style.
Besides that it's in the north of the city, I think you didnt make it clear enough that it was a major step forward in that time regarding living quality. Imagine, they used to live mostly in muddy worker barricades and then suddenly in a warm apartment only for you and your family. Even with a balcony for nearly every flat. Don't forget it was 1930! And it's more than a pitty that you didn't walked at the inside of it. There are, more or less, two giant parks only separated by a placa in the middle. This time was called the "red vienna", yes socialists, and was the first step to have cheap rents for all people. And this lasts until this day.
I'm having a hard time understanding how "cheap rent" commie blocks are a good thing. In America wherever "social housing" developments pop up it ends up being a very bad thing.
@@graalcloud i can understand you but there are a couple of factors which are not really comparable to social housing projects... and Socialists are not communists. They dont want to have a revolution of the working class (as they supposed to want). They want to have social benefits via a political system. In this case from the democratic Republic. The idea of those house projects in Vienna where that the city (which is and was rules by socialists) built flats financed by themselves and use the income only to finance more flats. Nothing is perfect for all but in this case its also located near a quite rich area and may benefit from the surrounding.
@@graalcloud In the US the social blocks are for getting rid of poor people. In Socialist countries, it was a means to give people affordable roof such that they don't go bankrupt. It isn't bad. There is no profit involved in Karl-Marx-Hoff, but in the US it's all about profit, segregation and propaganda. In Singapore, everyone gets social housing. You generally don't associate Singapore with misery right? This is all a product of Red Scare!
In the mining village of Fermont in Canada, there is a Residential/commercial/multi-fonctionnal building of 5 stories high, in the shape of a really wide arrow. It is 1.3 km long. They call it "Le mur" which is french for "the wall"... but it is not a wall per say. It has been constructed decades ago on the North side of the village to protect the rest of the houses and buildings from the North wind. And it is still in fonction today. Also, unlike the Karl-Marx-Hof building, there is no gaps in it. It is a never ending building to walk around. Maybe you haven't find this building because every informations on the web about it is in french canadian and is victim of bad translation (like thinking that it's just a wall because its name is "the wall/le mur").
My friends thought I was mad because when we went to Vienna - I wanted to go to the Karl-Marx-Hof and the Wittgenstein House (the one designed by Ludwig Wittgenstein for his sister).
Well if it's any consolation, either you're not mad, or we both are. I missed out on the Wittgenstein House, will have to go back to Vienna and check it out!
I live in vienna and I never heard about the Wittgenstein House. But the Karl Marx Hof is awesome. I have quite some friends living in it and I lived right inbetween the Karl-Marx-Hof and the Friedrich-Engels-Hof (which also is a fascinating piece of social housing)
Very helpful thank you - I was thinking of moving to that apt bldg in Murmansk but I was disappointed at its length. "Don't you have anything longer?" I asked the agent. Who wants to walk out their door, turn left, and be past the end of their building before 6 minutes have even gone by?
I live near Heiligenstadt in Vienna and i see that building very often its funny and awsome to learn its the longest housing building in the world Thank you!!
@Ganga Din Austria is #16 on the 2019 Press Freedom Index, far above countries like the UK (#33) or the USA (#48). A lot of places still have old laws in their books that don't get enforced any longer, like sodomy laws. Can you actually cite a recent example of someone who got prosecuted for blasphemy in Austria and was found guilty? And civil rights can also be restricted by extralegal means. Maybe you don't end up in jail for being an atheist in America, but you and your family members might end up losing your jobs, homes and face other forms of harassment over views like that. If I had to choose between a country that still has blasphemy laws and a country where outright discrimination of religious minorities is still a thing, then I'd always pick the former.
It's hard to see on the map because Google street view doesn't go there. I have found a few links in French (sorry, none in English) : Tourism Côte-Nord: tourismecote-nord.com/membres/musees-et-centres-dinterpretation/le-mur-ecran/ Wikipedia (look for "Le « Mur »"): fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermont Jobboom: structure of the wall: www.jobboom.com/carriere/anatomie-du-mur-de-fermont/ UPDATE: I found one link in English: www.houseporn.ca/landscape/article/the_wall_housing_structure_in_fermont_quebec
I've been to Fermont a couple times. The Wall is epic. In addition to hundreds of apartments it also contains several stores including a supermarket, schools, and recreational facilities. Apparently there's even a strip club in there but I didn't see it. The first time I visited in 1997 I thought it was pretty spectacular. When I saw it again in 2015 it looked a little tired but still very functional.
I was today in Heiligenstadt and remebered your video as I was leaving the trainstation. Without your video, I would just have passed by without noticing
@@chocomanger6873 vienna here: we dont give out candys, if someone, if really anyone, comes to the door uninvited, the correct answer is and always will be: "schleichts es es gschissanen gfrasta!"
@Bernd DasBrot Oh yeah... Just gotta love that British chocolate, those gooey Haribo shapes, the dry cakes, ... Actually, one thing Europe does do right is that salty northern European liquorice.
I have been inside.. and he is actually walking on the backside of the building. So it has many parks and playgrounds. and a lot of the apartments have a balcony.. and they are very spacious. I am not sure if the rooftop swimming pool is still working. but it has a lot of amenities. Also doctors, a primary school and kindergarden. In the past Vienna was struggling with overpopulation. It was the capital of a 50 Mio. empire and the city of Vienna had changed dramatically in size. The City planners in that time planned Vienna for 4Mio. people (but that never happened). So after 1WW a lot of people were socially left behind. Most of the population were living in poor conditions. Either in slums or in small apartments of just 20 sqm without water connections and toilettes. So the city had to change this and they created all over Vienna different similar housing projects. And the Karl-Marx-Hof was part of this revolution. You had suddenly water and a toilet in your apartment. A wash hall for everyone and a place to wash your clothes. But since then Vienna hasn't stopped. Nowadays they are creating smart neighbourhoods with the same philosophy but just with 21st century needs. Sonnenwendviertel, Seestadt Aspern, Nordbahngründe.... and so on..
Nowadays the city isnt building Gemeindebauten, they are just requiring new buildings to have a certain percentage of „smart flats“ which are a watered-down version of social housing.
I used the more accurate “measure distance” tool on google maps for the Karl Marx Hof and the one in Ukraine and found it to be longer. It was 1.35km and Vienna was 1.07km. I measured from point to point on the buildings instead of just the longest side. So basically what I’m saying is if you stretched out the Ukraine one from end to end as if it were a piece of string and did the same for Vienna, Ukraine would be longer. This may have been how the Wikipedia person reached their conclusion. Not saying you’re wrong though, just a different definition of length I suppose.
This project is almost 100 years old and still does a lot of things way better than any social housing project in the US. It would be nice to bring this concept back.
I visited Vienna a month ago and passed this building twice, it stood out to me because of the funny arches. Had no idea it was the longest building on earth!
I lived for 3 months in the building across the street at the 5:36 minutes mark and walked to and from the station every single day. I had never realized how big that thing is.
Prora was never a residential building and never 4.5km long. It was only 2.1 km long and was a holiday residential and later a military building. Since the remodeling it was split in 3 blocks
@@PGraveDigger1 I know thats what they said back then but it was basicaly forced. When you are a small and economical weak country you better do what the Nazis say when they have a huge army on your border. The Austrian public and army where not treated as equals, not to speak of jews and socialists who came from or flet to Austria. Although tbh a lot of Austrians where in favour of the Anschluss.
@@Phineas_Freak I was taught that the anschluss was the result of a referendum, where proponents got the majority. As far as I know the majority of the country did want to voluntarily join Germany, so the force that was exerted was atleast in some sense the same as the force exerted by democratic governments. If you, like I, view the force exerted by an army as basically the same as the force exerted by the monopoly on violence that democratic states have, then I agree with your point that annexation and anschluss were basically the same.
Here in Austria, saying we were forced to join Germany ("erstes Opfer"/"first Victim") will make you seem like a Nazi. Sure, there might have been some Economics at play, but more importantly, Vienna cheered when Hitler drove his car through the streets on the first day after declaring Austria part of Germany...
Longest "inhabited" building perhaps. There are Airport terminals that are longer. And thank you for mentioning the Stanford Linear Accelerator building which is 3km long.
There's also an interesting fact about the origin of the Karl-Marx-Hof. In 1914, Vienna was one of the 10 most populated cities on the planet, with something like 2 million habitants. The city was then under tremendous pressure to get more efficient housing, because at the time, a lot of people were living in unacceptable conditions. This was one of the drives also to the accession of socialists to power, and this building is maybe the best example of the answer they gave at the time. However, very interestingly, Vienna has not grown, but decreased in population since then, making it a small capital when compared to the rest of the world. But this also means that the city hasn't grown much since that time, and therefore presents quite a unique situation when it comes to city evolution.
Ambergris I’m afraid to tell you, but your numbers are wrong. In the early 20th century Vienna had way over 2 million habitants. After WWII the population decreased, until it’s lowest point in 1987 to 1,484,885. Since then the city of Vienna increases in size again and also experiences being a Cultural Hotspot once again - like it always used to be. In early 2019 the population of Vienna was 1,897,491 and will hit the 2 million mark soon again.
@@moritzbela2333 Thank you for being more precise than me. I was oversimplifiying, which then begs the question of why I thought it would be a good idea to give an oversimplified number. However, I'm curious, when you speak about an increase in size, do you mean population wise, or area wise? I knew about the population, but I have no information about the size of the area.
@@moritzbela2333 oh, and BTW, I modified the number I gave, however, although I admit it might be confusing, I kept the sentences saying that the city has decreased in population, as the city hasn't yet seen its population come back to its highest level, despite the recent increase. And I believe that those really interested in the question will also read your comment ;)
Have you seen the Worlds cleanest sewer tunnel? It is located in Vienna and was used as one of the filming locations in the Orson Wells 1949 movie The Third Man. It is the worlds cleanest sewer tunnel because it is not a sewer tunnel but a culverted canal...but in the movie it was meant to be a sewer...
It was never finished and isn't fully connected. Its called KDF Bad, to be precise, the little town its standing in and the area soruonding it is called Prora.
Well, ther where Studies by the city government in collaboration with the Milliertys of Britten France and the USA. To demolish the Karl Marks Hofe and Bild a runway just in case the Soviets did not want to relinquish control over their Occupation Zone and closed the Borders. The Karl Marks hove was Chossen because it was the longest flat straight and publicly owned Pice of land within the Western Alights Occupation Zone of Vienna. Luckily the Soviets sight the State Treaty. And Austria was as Pormist voluntarily neutral the day after Soviet forces withdrew from Austria.
The 'Peperklip' sprung to my mind as maybe the longest building in my city, Rotterdam. I've Google-maps-measured it and came to an estimated 850 meters if it were all stretched out straight. Which it isn't (it's vaguely paperclip shaped, surprisingly), so it wouldn't have counted anyway, but it's still _long,_ and puts the Vienna building into perspective.
Believe me, under our current government our tourist department would never ever manage to understand the value of internet marketing. They‘d rather print ads on toilet paper than actually do something like this
Benjamin Facouchere The previous Government was technologically illiterate, the current government doesnt do anything and if we dont get ÖVP-Grün, then we can assume that the next government will be technologically illiterate as well. Edit: we got ÖVP-Grün and they still are technologically illiterate.
If I am not mistaken we have a building here in Canada that is longer in Fermont Québec, it serves as a wall against the cold wind at the same time as a appartement and commerce building and is 1300 meters long in the shape of a crescent
This is one of the reasons that, while vienna is the most livable city worldwide it is still not too expensive. It's owned by the city (as a really lot of houses) and the rent is not too high.
