The house was designed by the architect Ludwig Tischler (1840-1906). It was built in the 1870s for the journalist, editor and politician Moritz Szeps who needed a private palace for his family and himself. Today the building houses offices and historical reception halls.
The Szeps family often held parties and had many of Vienna´s most famous people mingling within its halls. The building served as a private residence for several families before being bought by the Swedish State in 1928. From the 1930s the building was the Embassy office and residence for the Swedish Ambassador in Vienna.
In 1964 the Embassy office was relocated and the house was renovated into the Ambassador´s residence. In the latest renovation in 2014-2015, the National Property Board of Sweden (Statens fastighetsverk, SFV) changed the layout to make room for offices and remove the residence section. The goal was to create modern and efficient offices for the Foreign Service while protecting the building´s cultural history. Making the building environmentally friendly was another important factor.
The Swedish owned building at Liechtensteinstraβe 51 is part of Sweden´s cultural heritage abroad and is managed by the National Property Board of Sweden.
