Toegangsportaal van een woning aan Neuer Markt 15 te Wenen before 1894

This photograph captures the entrance to a private residence at Neuer Markt 15 in Vienna. Though the artist remains anonymous, this image provides insight into the societal values of the time. The photograph emphasizes the architecture of the doorway. The elaborate carvings and solid construction embody the cultural values of the upper classes of the time. These doorways acted as a symbolic threshold between the private, domestic sphere, and the public world. The design is intended to communicate to the visitor what sort of person lives behind the door. Doorways such as this are reminders of how physical space is often divided along class lines. It prompts reflection on how architecture reinforces these social hierarchies, and the emotional impact of such structures on those who are either welcomed or excluded by them.