Taking a roundabout route via the unconscious, Victor Adler can be seen as the reason for the Freud family’s move to Berggasse. Following the invitation of an old school friend, Sigmund Freud came to Berggasse 19 for lunch with Victor and Emma Adler at the beginning of the 1880s – Freud himself was unsure of the exact date – where the later-to-be politician was practising as a doctor at the time. The picture of the successful Adler, with wife and son, may well have made an impression on Freud as a student, later inducing him to make an uncharacteristically prompt decision: the Freuds – already married, the parents of two children, and living in a four-room apartment in the “Sühnhaus” (Atonement House) nearby Schottenring by 1891 – were looking for a larger apartment as their third child was already on the way. With their usual care and foresight, the couple had set out a number of precise criteria. Out walking one day, Sigmund happened to pass Adler’s former address in Berggasse. Freud viewed an apartment that was “To let” and – well aware that several factors did not favour his choice – signed the rent agreement there and then. Although the layout of the rooms, the light and available space were not ideal, the family moved in to Berggasse 19 in September 1891. The Freuds lived at this address until their forced emigration in June 1938, with work and private rooms being subject to numerous changes in terms of occupants, purpose and furnishings over the decades.
A predecessor building had existed at Berggasse 19 since the early 19th century, when building permission was granted for the site in 1822. It was divided up again in 1836 and a three-storey building was erected on it. Various extensions and conversions were carried out in 1853 and 1863, before a completely new building was built to the plans of the architect Hermann Stierlin as of 1889. While Freud’s first contact with Berggasse 19 had taken place in an apartment in the old building, the Freud family moved into their home in a new building in the Gründerzeit style in 1891.