Andreas-Hofer-Platz

Andreas-Hofer-Platz is a plaza in Graz’s first district, Inner City.The plaza on the outskirts of the ancient city center has a complicated founding narrative, and it only reached its current size around the turn of the twentieth century.The area serves as the principal transfer point for Styrian regional buses, with 20 regional bus routes stopping here.It has been named after the Tyrolean independence warrior Andreas Hofer (1767-1810) since 1947.

Today’s Andreas-Hofer-Platz sits on the western outskirts of Graz’s old center, immediately on the banks of the Mur, which was only defended with today’s large quay walls (here: Marburger Kai) in the second part of the nineteenth century. Previously, the riverbed was broader and flatter, making the river more accessible to fishers and raftsmen, but also more dangerous owing to floods.

A tributary of the river went through the region between today’s Andreas-Hofer-Platz and Franziskanerplatz to the north in the Middle Ages.Butchers who utilized the river for cleaning and waste disposal resided here, outside the medieval city walls, with other craftspeople who required water.Because of this custom, the entire region was known as Kälbernes Viertel.

The Kälberne area was incorporated into the newly constructed city walls in the early 17th century. Around 1620, the Neutor, a bastion, was erected at its southern extremity, to the west, towards the Mur.Eleonora Gonzaga (1628-1686), Emperor Ferdinand III’s wife, established a Discalced Carmelite convent on the banks of the Mur in the Kälbernen area, which was consecrated in 1654. In 1660, the monastery church was dedicated. In front of the monastery was a tiny plaza known as “Fischmarkt” or “Fischplatz,” from which today’s Andreas-Hofer-Platz grew.

Following a major flood in 1657, the defenses along the Mur’s banks were expanded to the north, the monastery was included into the city defences, and a small bastion on the riverbed stood in its way. The river, which was also used as a horse pond here, was previously accessible through a small entrance in the curtain wall, but this was quickly shut for security concerns. Following the declaration of Graz as a “open city” by Joseph II, the slow destruction of the city defenses started. A tiny portion of the defensive wall was retained at a corner of Andreas-Hofer-Platz (House No. 3), when the proprietors agreed to pay for repair in 1816.

Joseph II disbanded the monastery and closed the church on January 12, 1782; its altar is currently housed at the Grabenkirche. Despite the fact that the Carmelite sisters returned to the city in 1836 (see Carmelite Church of St. Joseph ), their old convent at Fischplatz had already been relinquished to the military regime in 1784. The facility was originally used as a military teaching center before the Imperial and Royal Military Uniforms and Economy Commission established a “clothing depot” (No. 3) in it. The fishing area was expanded in 1850 by demolishing the monastery wall.

After the city obtained the entire land, demolition of the monastery structure, including the old church, which protruded far into what is now Andreas-Hofer-Platz, began in May 1914.A new facility for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry was scheduled to be completed by December 1915.The building project was halted due to the First World War, and it was never resumed.Instead, the plaza presently known as “Fischmarkt” had grown.The Marburger Kai strengthened the Murufer on the west side of the square in 1858, and the Andreas-Hofer-Platz has been connected to the western Murufer by the “Albrechtsbrücke” (now Tegetthoffbrücke) since 1883.

The former monastery structure was demolished in 1934, although the plaza was still known as “Fischmarkt” at the time.In keeping with this trend, many of the structures that dominate the area today were not constructed until the twentieth century.Among these is the Graz Holding headquarters, which was designed by architect Rambald von Steinbüchel-Rheinwall and constructed between 1930 and 1935.The building is Graz’s sole notable example of classical modern architecture.The old post and telegraph office (Andreas-Hofer-Platz 19) is also interwar.

Following Austria’s annexation, the plaza was renamed “August-Assmann-Platz” until being granted its current name in 1947 in honor of South Tyrolean independence fighter Andreas Hofer (1767-1810).The reasons behind the name selection are unknown.The region was drastically redesigned in the 1960s.In keeping with the spirit of the times, local authorities at the period, led by Mayor Gustav Scherbaum, made every effort to modernize the city and make it more accessible to private transportation.

1965, the first underground parking garage in Graz was erected on or beneath Andreas-Hofer-Platz.At the time, the mineral oil giant Shell had purchased the right to construct and utilize the operator’s buildingContipark parking garage.Above ground, the facility comprises a café pavilion, a light pole, and adjacent bus stops and parking areas.The ensemble, which was considered a symbol of modernism at the time, is now widely regarded as unattractive, and the idea of a redesign is frequently discussed in politics and the media.A new building of the Tegetthoff Bridge (in its existing shape), constructed in 1975, failed in 2021 due to financial concerns.The fact that the operators of the subterranean parking park also have design control over substantial areas of the building makes a redesign more challenging.

Andreas-Hofer-Platz 3 – On the Mur-side facade, a portion of the city wall can be seen, and a commemorative plaque honors the homeowners’ commit to preserve it.

Andreas-Hofer-Platz 5 – Georg Hauberisser the Elder designed the structure, which was completed in 1844. It was rebuilt in 1912 by Wilhelm Burgstaller and A. Zauer, who gave the building a Secessionist exterior.

Andreas-Hofer-Platz 15 – Rambald von Steinbüchel-Rheinwall (architect) and Hubert Gessner (structural engineer) designed the listed building between 1930 and 1935. It is an outstanding example of interwar Austrian Classical Modernist architecture.
Andreas-Hofer-Platz 19 – The former post and telegraph office at Andreas-Hofer-Platz 19 was designed by Robert Haueisen and erected between 1927 and 1931.