History

The building at Kärntner Ring 8 was constructed in 1860, designed by the architects Wilhelm von Flattich and Carl Schumann, in the early years of Vienna's Ringstrasse development. It was originally used as an elegant residence and, until the end of the Habsburg monarchy, served as a popular meeting place for the Austrian nobility. Standing on a prominent corner of the boulevard between the State Opera and the Musikverein, it carries the high ceilings, tall windows and classical detailing characteristic of the Ringstrasse's grand 19th-century architecture. In later decades it operated as a hotel, latterly the Hotel Ring.

Between its acquisition and 2023, the building underwent a complete €50 million restoration supervised by the Viennese architectural firm HOPPE + Partner Architekten, with interior design by Nikola Arambašić. The work deliberately preserved the building's principal historic fabric — the venerable staircase, the historic hydraulic elevator (installed around the turn of the century, with its tiles, driver's cabin and cast-iron paneling), the ornate stucco of the high-ceilinged rooms, and the elegant Ringstrasse façade — while embedding contemporary materials, including more than 160 tons of marble across roughly 4,190 square metres. The hotel reopened in 2023 as The Amauris Vienna, a member of Relais & Châteaux.