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Café Sperl is a traditionalViennese café located at Gumpendorfer Straße 11 in theMariahilf sixth district ofVienna, Austria. The café is on the Austrian Register of Historic Places.
Jacob Ronacher founded the cafe asCafé Ronacher in 1880, in a building on the corner of Gumpendorfer Straße and the Lehargasse (Lehar Lane). The decor is reminiscent of Vienna's elegantRingstraßen-Cafés with parquet floors, bentwoodThonet chairs,marble tables, crystalchandeliers andcarambole billiards tables. The building and interior decor were designed by architects Wilhelm Jelinek and Anton Groß. Within the first year of operation, Ronacher sold the establishment to the Sperl family, who renamed the businessCafé Sperl. In 1884 ownership passed to Adolf Kratochwilla, who retained the cafe's name.
Prior toWorld War I, the primary clientele was an interesting mix of individuals drawn from Vienna's cultural and military circles. In addition to authors, artists, architects, composers, musicians and actors, military officials from the nearbyImperial and Royal(K.u.K)military academy could be found in attendance, including the futureChief of Staff of theAustro-Hungarian ArmyFranz Conrad von Hötzendorf andArchduke Joseph Ferdinand.
This infamous kaffeehauser is near the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (Akademia der bildenden Künste) whereAdolf Hitler of Café Sperl’s regulars applied to be a student, twice, and was rejected, twice. The failed artist was known to loudly subject patrons to his political opinions and eventually left his native Austria as a nobody and returned to Vienna in 1938 as head of theNazi Party.
In 1968 Manfred Staub bought the cafe from the Kratochwillas. He renovated the cafe in 1983. In recent years, theCafe Sperl has won several awards. These include the "Austrian Cafe of the Year," 1998 (German:Österreichisches Kaffeehaus des Jahres) and theGoldene Kaffeebohne (English: Golden Coffee Bean) in 2004. Contemporary cafe regulars have included authors Jörg Mauthe,Robert Menasse, Ana Tajder, andMichael Köhlmeier.
Café Sperl was featured in the 1995 movieBefore Sunrise, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and in a 2011 DVD of theVienna Philharmonic playing the music of Johann Strauss, Fritz Kreisler and others. The café interior also appeared in the 2011 movieA Dangerous Method, which featured Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. The interior and exterior appear in the miniseriesThe Winds of War.
48°11′59″N16°21′39″E / 48.19972°N 16.36083°E /48.19972; 16.36083
