Some places in Vienna you only find if you go looking for them, or if someone shows them to you. Dehnepark in the 14th district, on the edge of Hütteldorf, is one of those places: quiet, wooded, with old trees, a dreamy pond and a neo Gothic ruin villa that looks as though it has been standing there since another time altogether.
A pastry shop that still shapes Vienna today
The park takes its name from the court confectioner August Dehne. His pastry shop on Michaelerplatz, founded in 1786 by his father Ludwig, made the family wealthy, and August Dehne put that wealth into land here, on the edge of the Vienna Woods. In 1857 he sold the business to his journeyman Christoph Demel, who moved it to the Kohlmarkt and turned it into the pastry shop that is world famous today. It is one of those Viennese stories where a name you know turns out to be tied to a place you would never have guessed.
From private estate to public park
Later the park belonged to the film director Willi Forst, before the City of Vienna took it over and opened it to everyone. What remains is a piece of the Vienna Woods that still feels like a private garden, even though it no longer is one. The old trees give shade even on the hottest days, and the pond sits quietly among them, as though it has never been in a hurry.
One of eighty happy places
Dehnepark is one of eighty places in my book, “Grüne Glücksorte in Wien” (Green Happy Places in Vienna), and when people ask me why this particular park made the list, I always say the same thing: because on hot days it is one of the coolest addresses in the city, and because it reminds you that Vienna is full of such corners, ones you only discover once you turn your back on the familiar paths.
Next time you have a free afternoon and the bustle of the city centre gets to be too much, take the train out to Hütteldorf. Sit by the pond, under the old trees, and take your time. That is exactly what this place is for.
Martha
