It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf, Neustift am Walde and Salmannsdorf.

The hills in Währing consist of multi-layered sandstone alternating with clay, except for the high grounds of Pötzleinsdorf and Türkenschanze, which are of sands.

In the lower parts of the district one finds deposits of the stone tegel; at higher elevations mostly hard sands, rocks and boulders.

On the road Schafberggasse limestone was uncovered during construction of a canal: due to the former location of the Tethys Ocean, various remnants of marine life can be found beneath the district.

Währing is enclosed between two elongated ridges extending from the northwest to the south and forming the valley of the Währinger Stream.

The Ladenburghöhe, which border Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark to the south, lie between the two ridges and run parallel to and northeast of the Schafberg range.

Green space occupies 30.2% of the district: woodland 14.4%, parkland 7.9%, meadows 3.0%, allotments 2.9%, sports fields 1.3% and agriculture (vineyards) 0.6%.

[3] The most spectacular individual group of the Austrian resistance against National Socialism during the Second World War was that of the Währing priest Heinrich Maier.

The center of the group was on the one hand the parish church of St. Leopold in Gersthof and the villa of Franz Josef Messner on Hasenauerstrasse.

With the location sketches of the production facilities, the Allied bombers were able to carry out precise air raids and thus protect residential areas.

The name could plausibly come from Slavic (var for a warm spring) or Germanic (werich for a plot of land that a farmer can work for a day) origins.

The graves of both composers were moved to the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna in 1888, but there remains a bust of Schubert in memory of his original resting place.

The epitaph written by Franz Grillparzer reads in German: Die Tonkunst begrub hier einen reichen Besitz aber noch viel schönere Hoffnungen (The art of music buried here a rich possession and yet much finer hopes.)

A long-running debate over the restoration of the cemetery has been taking place since 2006 between politicians of the federal and local levels as well as experts.