Vienna's rooftops

Landesgerichtstrasse is not part of the Ring.

The red roofs are tiles. I think there is no rhyme or reason to the roof choices, but generally the older buildings will have tile. That said, no building in Vienna is really that old by European standards.

Thanks, Emily. I edited out my question about the Ringstraße.

I'm surprised Emily would say that "no building in Vienna is really old by European standards" when that's totally untrue. There are a few: Stephansdom itself, St Ruprechts, etc. The thing is, the city was pretty heavily bombed in WWII, and no building lasts forever. In Amsterdam, for instance, the buildings date back to the 16th and 17th centuries, but have been maintained and rebuilt as necessary without many visible modernizations, whereas in Vienna, the buildings were modernized over and over again through the ages, brought up to date every hundred years or so. So, while there aren't really many (except things like the churches) buildings that are 100% as they appeared in 1400, many of the existing buildings stand on very old foundations. The old buildings are visible in slivers and bits. And certainly all the roofs have been modernized--even those using the older red tiles have up-to-date underlayments.

If you're interested in the history of the buildings, I wholeheartedly suggest you visit the Neidhart Frescoes at Tuchlauben 19. There's a little booklet they sell there for 3 Euros that tells the architectural history of the building and is completely fascinating. You won't look at a pretty Viennese wedding-cake of a building the same way again. Also go the Romermuseum to learn about how the Romans oriented their settlement along the older Celtic settlement paths, and how the medieval city grew up on the ruins of the Roman city. There are streets in Vienna city center that have been streets for 2500 years or more.

There are old bones for sure, Vienna has been around a long time. That said, between Franz Josef and WW2, Vienna was completely transformed into a "modern" city. Most of the buildings in Vienna are less than 150 years old, which I think surprises some people who have a romantic, medieval idea of Europe.

If you really want to get a good aerial view of Vienna don't rely on Google Maps' satellite pictures. There are much better aerial photographs available, taken by a special camera in a low flying airplane, commissioned by the City of Vienna.
https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtplan/en/
On the right side there are buttons labelled "Karte" and "Luftbild" to switch between the map and aerial view, respectively.
The map is very precise and versatile. Using the check boxes on the left will allow you to superimpose a vast amount of information.

Thanks!

Speaking of aerial views, is there a good tower climb we could do to get a nice city view? Steps only, no elevators.

Stephansdom, Kahlenberg, Upper Belvedere, Donauturm, 25 Hours Hotel Rooftop Bar...

DC Tower (Austria's tallest building), Gloriette's roof, Riesenrad (ferris wheel), ...