For centuries in Vienna it was customary to live in finely sculpted, multi-story buildings. Wealthier Viennese lived in urban mansions known as Adelspalais, or aristocratic palaces. Lesser nobility lived in Mietpalais, or rent palaces. Zinspalais, or interest-bearing palaces, served people of all classes. As the city densified with industrialization, Vienna gave birth to one of the earliest modern social housing initiatives: Red Vienna, yielding a new generation of marvelous apartment blocks. In all, it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Decades after WWII, as Vienna strived to save aging neighborhoods of Zinspalais, it was faced with a budgetary conundrum: could the exteriors be restored without sacrificing the quality of life within? The two aims came into conflict and blocks of Zinspalais were designated both as landmarks but also as buildings that might be stripped of their handsome sculpted features as a cost-saving measure. Hopefully by now this clash of policy has been corrected.