Café Prückel

Cafe Pruckel in Vienna opens on Christmas Day 1903, when cycling champion Maxime Lurion opened a gilded coffee house on the Ring, only to lose it within two years. The guide follows how it passed to Wenzel Pruckel, already famous for Cafe Central, and then how architect Oswald Haerdtl stripped away the gilt in the 1950s, widening the windows and commissioning custom Lobmeyr chandeliers. It also describes the olive green banquettes and perforated lampshades still standing in that 1955 room.