Patscherkofelbahn

The abandoned valley station of the former Patscherkofel cable car is located on the southern outskirts of Innsbruck. The building, designed by architect Hans Fessler in the 1920s, has a modern “sans-serif antique” typeface on the façade – similar to the typeface “Bank Gothic” that was developed around 1930 by American type designer Morris Fuller Benton. Influenced by Bauhaus, he adopted a geometric, constructivist style, thereby creating a very modern typeface for this time. Whether we like it or not, it reminds us Europeans of America.

Old pictures of the valley station of the Patscherkofel cable car still show the inscription “Talstation der Seilschwebebahn Igls Patscherkofel” in “Fraktur” typeface on the façade. Later, probably after 1950, this font was replaced by the more contemporary “sans-serif Antiqua” font.