The building was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstraße commissioned by the controversial Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the building in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, who lived together in the 6. Bezirk. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. Legend has it that the architects were berated for the style and told it looked like a train station. van der Nüll committed suicide and ten weeks later his partner in work and in life died. Oddly enough, during WWII it was bombed because it was mistaken for a train station.
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