Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 45. (1997)
AGSTNER, Rudolf: Von Chandos House zum Belgrave Square. Österreichs Botschaft in London 1815–1997
Rudolf Agstner The general impression of the present state is one of long neglect, which manifests itself all the more in the local humid and smoke-filled climate. Static, dangerous or other deficiencies affecting the safety of the building were, however, not found. Restoring the building thus necessitates no construction or architectural measures, but a great number of repair and maintenance work, which separately are of no major importance. Given their great number they will amount to considerable costs. Although Mensdorff urged the installation of an elevator, the project was turned down, and only the sum of LSt. 1 026 was made available for the most urgent repairs. In the end, 1 430 LSt. were spent, and Mensdorff consoled the Foreign Ministry by reporting that „the embassy building is now in a state which will bring about a considerable reduction in maintenance costs in future years“. VIII. 1911 - expansion of the chancery wing in Belgrave Mews In 1909 it became evident, that the embassy’s chancery was lacking space; it proved impossible to install the „commercial chancery“ in the embassy. The Foreign Ministry objected to the addition of another floor to the chancery wing on Belgrave Mews, and suggested using one of the guest rooms as commercial chancery. Mensdorff refused, „as the guest rooms are on the third floor, have no connection to the chancery and can be reached only by a small staircase from my bedroom ...“After having submitted several suggestions, the ambassador convinced Vienna of the need to add an extra floor to the office wing. Just before construction should have started on February 1, 1911, it was noted that no provision had been made for a toilet; plans had to be redrawn. Matters were further complicated when the Foreign Minister Count Berchtold advised Mensdorff to make two of the new rooms available for the military and the naval attachés. Berchtold had promised his colleague, the Austro-Hungarian War Minister, that whenever possible, military and naval attachés were to be housed in embassies and legations. After construction had finally started, Mensdorff requested installation of an additional bathroom in the servants pantry on the third floor, as until then there had been only one bathroom on the second floor. On June 1, 1911 the new office wing was ready for its occupants; it provided space for the commercial director, an office, an anteroom and two rooms for the military and naval attachés. Total construction costs amounted to LSt 690. In the same year, the number of telephones was expanded to eight, and in 1914 a completely new kitchen was shipped from Vienna. It arrived at Belgrave Square on August 5. IX. Life at the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Embassy Constantin Dumba, later last Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, was „provisionally“ sent as attaché to the London embassy in 1881, where he was to stay for more than five years. In his memoirs he recalls an idyllic state of affairs: ... we had a certain separation of work. Two honorary attachés were part of our embassy, Count Karl Kinsky and Count Kaunitz, both scions of great families and excellent horsemen. They participated in fox hunts and shooting hunts, were invited from 52