Finally, because of a misjudgment, the police (the Sicherheitswache [de] in then-Austria) told rescuers to leave, because they thought everybody had already been rescued.

Safety curtains became mandatory in order to contain stage fires and theatre props had to be impregnated to make them fire-resistant.

Likewise, the bigger theatres were forced to employ a uniformed security guard who would oversee the evacuation and must remain on-site until the last spectator left the premises – a rule which still stands today.

The burned-out shell of the theater was demolished and emperor Franz Joseph I privately funded the construction of an apartment building on the same site.

The psychoanalyst of later fame, Sigmund Freud, who narrowly missed attending the evening of the fire,[1] was one of the first occupants of the apartment building.