Embassy of the United States, Vienna

The Embassy of the United States of America in Vienna is the main United States diplomatic mission to Austria. Since 1947 the embassy building is located on Boltzmanngasse 16, in the Alsergrund district of Vienna.

Embassy of the United States, Vienna
Native name
German: Botschaft der Vereinigten Staaten in Wien

U.S. Embassy building, Vienna
LocationBoltzmanngasse 16
Vienna, Austria
Coordinates48.222789°N 16.356223°E / 48.222789; 16.356223
OpenedJune 30, 1947 (1947-06-30)[1]
AmbassadorTrevor Traina
Location of Embassy of the United States, Vienna in Austria

History

The United States first established diplomatic relations with Austria when Henry A. P. Muhlenberg was appointed first U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Austrian Empire on 8 February 1838. When according to the Compromise of 1867 the empire became the union of Austria-Hungary, the Ministers were so commissioned. The legation officially was elevated to the status of an embassy on 17 May 1902, with Robert Sanderson McCormick as first U.S. Ambassador.[2]

When upon the American entry into World War I the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Austria-Hungary in April 1917, Spain handled the representation of U.S. interests in Vienna for the duration of the war.[3] In 1921 the U.S. diplomatic mission reopened as a legation.[4]

The Neo-baroque embassy building at Boltzmanngasse 16 was constructed from 1902 to 1904 according to plans designed by architect Ludwig Baumann, then as the new location of the K.k. Academy for Oriental Languages established in 1754 (the precursor of the present-day Diplomatic Academy of Vienna). The studying conditions were severely restricted after the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany and the building was temporarily used as a Wehrmacht military hospital. At the conclusion of World War II, U.S. occupation troops seized the building until 1946.

The U.S. Government finally purchased the building on 30 June 1947, at the intercession of Eleanor Lansing Dulles and with the consent of the Austrian National Council. The U.S. Mission in Austria held the status of a legation from 1947 until 1951, when it officially became an embassy, with Walter J. Donnelly as the first U.S. ambassador to serve in Vienna since Frederic Courtland Penfield departed in World War I.[5]

The current United States Ambassador to Austria is Trevor Traina, who presented his credentials to the Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen on 24 May 2018.

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See also

Notes and references
  1. "History of the Consular Academy at Boltzmanngasse 16". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  2. "Ambassadors to Austria". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  3. Kroeger, Brooke. ""Nellie Bly: She Did It All"". Quarterly of the National Archives, Spring 1996, Vo. 28, No. 1. pp. 7–15. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
  4. "LEGATION OPEN IN VIENNA". The New York Times. 1921-12-02. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
  5. "History of the Consular Academy at Boltzmanngasse 16". Embassy of the United States in Vienna. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
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