Unterdöbling

The Rudolfinergasse in 1910

Döbling is mentioned for the first time in an official document in 114 as de Teopilic. This name is of Slavic origin; toplica either means “marshy water” and refers to the settlement’s location by the Krottenbach or derives from the Old Slavic term for a “warm creek”. Later usage includes spellings such as Toblich, Töbling and Tepling.

Originally, Unterdöbling was known as Chrottendorf because of its location by the Krottenbach. The name Unterdöbling was first used in the 15th century.

Medieval Unterdöbling was inhabited by farmers who were largely reliant on their own produce. They produced wine for sale, but also planted cereals for this purpose and produced fruit, vegetables and milk products. In the 12th century, the nobles derer von Topolic owned Döbling, later it was the property of the Dominican monastery in Tulln. It is mentioned in a document from 1310 as the village of the ladies of Tulln. As time progressed, separate villages evolved, divided from one another by the Krottenbach. The separation of the two settlements was recorded in an official document for the first time in 1591.

The Nußwaldgasse

A village seal dating from 1688 has been preserved. It depicts Saint James with the inscription Sigil der gemain Under Thöbling 1688 ("Seal of the municipality Under Thöbling 1688"). Unterdöbling’s development was impeded by a lack of available land and remained behind that of Oberdöbling. By the start of the 18th century, Unterdöbling was nonetheless still around a third larger than Oberdöbling, but the plague hit Unterdöbling much harder than its southern neighbour in 1713. More than half of all houses were infected and 52 people died. Nearby Sievering was however hit even harder. In 1783, there were 300 inhabitants in Unterdöbling, and around 1800, Unterdöbling still had just one street. By 1828, the number of inhabitants had risen to around 500 and the number of houses to 53, but the population shrank again in the following years. In 1835, there were just 400 inhabitants left. Thereafter though, growth paralleled that in Oberdöbling. In 1853, 941 people were living in Unterdöbling; in 1890 there were 2,074 people in 170 houses. In 1892, Unterdöbling and Oberdöbling, along with the surrounding suburbs of Grinzing, the Kahlenbergerdorf, Nußdorf, Heiligenstadt, Sievering and Josefsdorf, were turned into the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling.

In the post-war years of the 1950s, the Krim, a part of Unterdöbling, experienced rapid growth. This once infamous and poverty-stricken quarter was turned into an upmarket residential area with its own parish church.