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Dornbach, Vienna — Area Guide & Where to Stay
A charter of 1044 first names Dornbach, largest of the three old villages Vienna folded into its 17th district, Hernals, in 1892.
About Dornbach
Where to stay in Dornbach
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Beds are few. The dense end of Dornbach is the Frauenfeld, where blocks of four to six storeys went up after the Vorortelinie opened its Hernals station, and a room there puts the S45 within a few minutes' walk of the door. Uphill it changes character: the protected core around Rupertusplatz keeps garden walls, low houses, and the tram 43 that turns in the loop beside the St.-Anna-Kapelle.
If you want a choice of hotels rather than a quiet street, book in central Vienna and ride out.
About Dornbach
What are the main landmarks in Dornbach?
The Pfarrkirche Dornbach at Rupertusplatz was consecrated in 1139 and remodelled in 1931-1932 by Clemens Holzmeister, who swung its main axis through ninety degrees. A tram loop rings the St.-Anna-Kapelle. East of the old core the Dornbacher Friedhof shares its ridge with the Hernalser cemetery, and the Wiener Sport-Club Platz backs straight onto it, which is why the north stand is called the Friedhofstribüne.
Josef Frank's Wiedenhoferhof of 1924-1925 and the Herz-Jesu-Sühnekirche on Dr.-Josef-Resch-Platz mark the Frauenfeld. Adolf Loos planned the Siedlung Heuberg on the western slope.
What is the history of Dornbach?
A charter of 1044 records Sighard IV granting two farmsteads on the Als to the abbey of Sankt Peter in Salzburg, and the crossed keys in Dornbach's arms still copy that abbey's own. The name surfaces around 1115 as Doringinpach. Wine paid the bills until about 1800, when the Viennese began renting summer rooms up the Andergasse, and the horse tramway introduced on 4 October 1865 reached Hernals and the city itself the year after.
On 1 January 1892 a law merged Dornbach, Hernals, and Neuwaldegg into the 17th district; 347 houses stood in Dornbach at the time. Otto Wagner's Hernals station followed in 1898.
Where is Dornbach?
Three hills box Dornbach in: the Heuberg on the west, the Schafberg to the north, and the Gallitzinberg above the Ottakring boundary. The Vorortelinie draws the eastern edge against Hernals, while Neuwaldegg starts just west of the Hans-Leinkauf-Platz and Pötzleinsdorf lies over the ridge to the north-east. It covers 558.13 hectares.
That makes Dornbach the largest of the three parts of the 17th district, and its flat eastern end, the Frauenfeld, is the only stretch built to inner-city density.
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Updated September 2026