CLAM GALLAS

Clam Gallas-American Red Cross Service Club 1948

CLAM GALLAS

By Jack Edmonds

Two Tulln AB GIs, Pfc. James D. McFarland and
MSgt. James R. Griffin (deceased).
It was a nice spring day in 1946 when I first entered the building. I walked straight through the atrium into a large room where American Red Cross women were serving coffee and donuts while chatting with the GIs. An Austrian gentleman was playing American music on the piano. He was very good and GIs were hanging around the piano to listen and make requests. A nearby enlisted man was having his portrait done by a young Austrian woman. Other GIs were reading or playing cards to wile away the time until nighttime activities begin in the many nightclubs of Vienna

I thought my mom would like a portrait of me, so after the artist had finished the GI’s portrait, I asked her the price to do mine. The price was four packs of cigarettes, and she would refer me to a good art shop to do the framing and crate it for mailing. I agreed.

During the next week, the artist completed my portrait in two posing sessions. It's size was about 18 inches by 26 inches. I went to the art shop and selected a frame. Within a few days the portrait was enclosed in glass, framed, and crated for mailing. That, also, cost four packs of cigarettes.

This was Clam Gallas Palace, American Red Cross Service Club, as I knew it. This seventy-seven room palace, on Währingertrasse, was first opened on April 1, 1946. It was inhabited by Countess Clam Gallas until a few weeks before. The palace was surrounded by more than an acre of ground with a wrought iron fence. It had a beautiful terrace, lawn, and gardens where you could spend some quiet relaxing time.

Clam Gallas American Red Cross Women-1946. Do you
recongize anyone?
The Clam Gallas Red Cross women did an excellent job of making us GIs feel at home--both there and at the Tulln Air Base Service Club. Well deserved thanks go to all American Red Cross workers who served there. The names of those women who were at Clam Gallas in 1946 were: Fran of Louisville, KY; Elaine Druliner of Bernkelman, NE; Dorothy Perkins of Tuscaloosa, AL; Eleanor Murphy of Arlington, MA; Jan Purdy of Kalamazoo, MI; Flo Thrift of San Francisco, CA; Ruth Woodbury of Oakland, CA; Eileen Eyre of New York City; Betty Burton of Coffeyville, KA; Fran Kennard of Keensburg, IL; Ginny Storts of Syosset, L.I., NY; Helen MacGregor of Mesilla, Park, NM; and Alice Cole of Worcester, MA. Some of these ladies later transferred to Tulln Air Base.

Clam Gallas was a place where GIs could come for relaxation and be entertained. There were daily organized activities in which they could participate. It was an American oasis within Vienna and within the Russian Occupation Zone.

The club operated the customary snack bar, showers, masseur, tours, and a library. There was a sundeck as well as tennis and badminton courts for use by the Americans and their families. Later on, meals were served daily. Entertainment included the Vienna Boys' Choir, movie stars and other celebrities, musicians, plays, etc. A typical daily agenda at the Club included French, German, and Russian language lessons, duplicate bridge, chess night, square dance and waltz lessons, and State nights such as Texas and Oklahoma Night where everyone from Texas and Oklahoma were invited for an evening of fun and games. Clam Gallas palace was a welcome gathering place for off-duty activities for those Americans who were stationed in Vienna and Tulln Air Base, which eventually provided a regular bus service to Clam Gallas.

A Clam Gallas Program Schedule

I went there several times by myself and with friends. We would often walk through the quiet gardens. Sometimes, I would go there to read or just to laze away the time on those warm spring days.
HISTORY

Clam Gallas Palace today
The land on which the Palace Clam Gallas now stands was acquired in 1690 by Prince-Elector Ferdinand-Josef Dietrichstein. Langegasse separated it from the Liechtenstein estate. According to 19^th century reports, the garden, which was designed in English style by Count Karl Dietrichstein, was considered one of the finest and most impressive in Vienna. A popular inn dating from the early 18^th century, "Zum goldenen Engel (To the golden angel)", was a much admired garden Salon that adjoined the Dietrichstein garden next to what is now the entrance of the Palace on Währingerstrasse. Around 1830 the Dietrichsteins acquired the inn as well as a garden adjoining the lower side of the property on the Rossau, which had belonged to the Jesuits.

Prince Franz Josef Dietrichstein, who had grown tired of living in his rather austere palace on Herrengasse, asked architect Josef Koch to supervise the construction of a summer palace on the property now known as Clam Gallas. It was completed in 1835 and became the home of Prince Franz Josef.

In 1850, the Prince’s daughter, Countess Clotilde, married Count Edward Clam Gallas, and the palace became the property of the Clam Gallas family. It was from this family that France acquired the property in 1952.

The building is presently the home of the Cultural Service of the French Embassy and of the French Institute of Vienna. Although the Clam Gallas is still picturesque, most of it rooms are empty or used as storage space by the French Institute.
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