Designed by Adolf Loos, this modernist gem put Franz Josef’s nose seriously out of joint when it was completed in 1911. Its intentionally simple facade offended the emperor so deeply that he ordered the curtains pulled on all palace windows overlooking the building. Critics described it as a ‘house without eyebrows’, referring to its lack of window detail, and work had to be stopped until Loos agreed to add 10 window boxes. Today it is widely accepted as a work of genius and houses a bank on the ground floor and temporary exhibition halls on the upper floors.