Ludwig Bemelman’s Hapsburg House, New York 1934

Austrian-born writer and artist Ludwig Bemelmans (1898-1962) worked at the Ritz Carlton for fifteen years, beginning in 1915. (The Ritz Carlton masquerades in his books as the "Hotel Splendide.")  

Around 1934, he managed the Hapsburg House at 313 East 55th Street in New York.  He painted the restaurant's murals and illustrated the menus. 

A review read: "A little old New York house 'done over' in the manner of old Vienna as Schubert knew it. At the door to greet you, a dear little old man the image of Emperor Franz Joseph." Bemelmans' famous children's book Madeline was first published in 1939. 

The murals of the Bemelmans Bar, at 35 East 76th Street in Manhattan, came about when Robert Dowling, who owned the Hotel Carlyle, had Ludwig Bemelmans paint the walls of the bar in exchange for 18 months in a luxury apartment in the Hotel