In 1796 Emperor Franz came to Baden for the first time to take the waters. He enjoyed it so much he continued coming every year (except for two years when the empire was at war) for stays of two to three months until his death in 1835. In summertime, Baden became the capital city of the empire, the official summer residence.
Initially, the emperor found lodging at the Augustinian monastery. When the monastery was closed in 1812 and burned down shortly thereafter, he purchased a house on the main square, still known today as the Emperor's House (Kaiserhaus).
Behind the house, on Grabengasse, he had stables built. Today they house the fire station. In 1827 he acquired the Augustinian monastery as accommodations for his retinue. It had been rebuilt since the fire and today houses the Gymnasium Frauengasse secondary school. Baden now became a fashionable resort. Everybody who was anybody was drawn to Baden, the most famous among them probably being Ludwig van Beethoven. That is why Baden has such a wealth of lovely homes and luxurious palais.

Many of them were built according to plans by Josef Kornhäusel, the most famous architect of the time. He also built the town hall.
When Emperor Franz died, this golden age ended, for his son Ferdinand had unpleasant memories of Baden. In 1832 a madman had attempted to assassinate him here It was out of gratitude for his survival of this event that the city of Baden had Ferdinand's Fountain erected next to the Plague Column.
However, the many members of the imperial family with palais in Baden continued to come. The Weilburg, destroyed at the end of World War II, was a landmark of the Helena Valley. It was owned by Archduke Carl and his wife Henriette. Palais Erzherzog Anton, Rainervilla and Eugenvilla are three names of other prominent buildings once occupied by members of the imperial dynasty. Baden remained an imperial city until the collapse of the Austrian Monarchy in 1918 - or as a writer once put it: "a miniature Vienna in watercolors."