Bankhaus Spängler

Bankhaus Spängler is a private bank from and in Salzburg and prides itself for being the oldest private bank of Austria. The building of the headquarter is a noteworthy one, the historicist 1905 Bazargebäude right at the Salzach. It is a pink building that has a somewhat tent-like appearance and is known for the Café Bazar on the other side of it.

The Spängler family originated from South Tyrol and can be tracked back to the 16th century; the logo of the bank is the family coat of arms and dates back to 1677. In 1729, Franz Anton Spangler moved to Salzburg and worked here as a cloth merchant. This remained a key area for the Spängler family to operate in. In 1855, Alois Spängler started to work as a banker (he was also a politician and became mayor of Salzburg at some point). He is considered to be the founder of the banking activities of the family; the Spängler bank itself was formally founded by his son Carl the same year. Originally, the bank was situated at the Mozartplatz.

The local heroes of historicist architecture Valentin and Jakob Ceconi (father and son) designed today′s headquarter in 1881. In 1905, this building was extended by an additional floor; one year later, the Spängler Bank moved in and remained there ever since. Which is rather remarkable: Neither the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, nor the Great Depression, nor the Nazi era and WWII could kill it.

In the 1980ies, the bank was the only one that trusted the idea of a young entrepreneur to sell a so-called "energy drink", supposedly a trendy thing in Asia. Partly out of loyalty, the Spängler Bank is now still one of the main financing partners of "Red Bull". The Spängler family has a tomb on the Sebastiansfriedhof (in one of the corners of the cloisters); they are active in Salzburg′s art benefactors scene and the bank has several branches. Three in the city of Salzburg and others in Anif, Zell am See, Rauris, Kaprun, Piesendorf and Vienna.

Further Reading

http://www.spaengler.at/
Spängler Bank, official website


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