Villa Tugendhat

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Tugendhat Villa in Brno
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
View from the garden
Country	Czech Republic
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv
Reference	1052
UNESCO region	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)

Villa Tugendhat is a historical building in the wealthy neighbourhood of Černá Pole in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Built of reinforced concrete between 1928-1930 for Fritz Tugendhat and his wife Greta, the villa soon became an icon of modernism.

Design

The free-standing three-story Villa Tugendhat is situated on a sloped terrain and faces to the south-west. The second story, the ground floor consists of the main living and social areas with the conservatory and the terrace as well as the kitchen with facilities along with the servants' rooms. The third story, the first floor, has the main entrance from the street with a passage to the terrace, the entrance hall, the rooms for the parents, children and the nanny with appropriate facilities. The chauffeur's flat with the garages and the terrace are accessible separately.

Mies' design principle of "less is more" and emphasis on functional amenities created a fine example of early functionalism architecture, a groundbreaking new vision in building design at the time. Mies used the revolutionary iron framework which enabled him to dispense with supporting walls and arrange the interior in order to achieve a feeling of space and light. One wall is a sliding sheet of plate glass that descends to the basement the way an automobile window does. Mies also designed all of the furniture (two types of armchair designed for the building, the Tugendhat chair and the Brno chair, are still in production). Classic furnishings by Lilly Reich complemented the architect’s own pieces. There were no paintings or decorative items in the villa but the interior was by no means austere due to the use of naturally patterned materials such as the captivating onyx wall and rare tropical woods. The onyx wall is partially translucent and changes appearance when the evening sun is low. The architect also managed to make the magnificent view from the villa an integral part of the interior.

The cost of building the villa was very high due to the unusual construction method, luxurious materials, and the use of modern technology for heating and ventilation. On the lower-ground level, was used as a service area. An ultra-modern air-conditioning system was located here and a glass facade that opens completely assisted by a mechanism built into the wall. The floor space of the home was unusually large and open compared to the average family home of the period; in addition to the various storage rooms made the structure unique if not confusing to visitors not used to such minimalism.

History

Villa Tugendhat was commissioned by Jewish factory-owner Fritz Tugendhat on land he received as a wedding present from his in-laws. The construction company of Artur and Mořic Eisler began with the construction of the house in the summer of the year 1929 and completed it in fourteen months. Fritz and Greta Tugendhat, who were Jewish, enjoyed just eight years in Tugendhat before fleeing Czechoslovakia with their children in 1938 (including philosopher Ernst Tugendhat), shortly before the country was dismembered following the Munich Agreement. They lived in Switzerland and never returned. The house was confiscated by the Gestapo in 1939 and next used as an apartment and office; its interior was senselessly modified and many pieces disappeared. It suffered considerable damage during combat operations at the end of World War II and later, when it shortly served as quarters and stables for the Soviet military. It was partially repaired and used for various purposes (for example as a children's physiotherapy center) for several decades after World War II.

Greta Tugendhat returned to the villa in 1967 with a senior architect from Mies's Chicago studio and filled him in on the original design, and a group of Czech architects set out to fix up the place. It was inscribed on the National List of Cultural Heritage in 1969 and restored after 1980. In 1992 the political leaders of Czechoslovakia met there to sign the document that formally divided the country into the present separate states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Since 1994 the villa has been open to the public as a museum administered by the city of Brno.

In 1993 the Villa Tugendhat Fund and Friends of Tugendhat were formed to preserve the house. In 1995 Brno received a $15,000 grant to pay for preliminary research from the Samuel H. Kress European Preservation Program, part of the World Monuments Fund. Then the International Music and Art Foundation, based in Lichtenstein, got involved, pledging $100,000, because a trustee, Nicholas Thaw, was also a trustee of the World Monuments Fund. The Robert Wilson Foundation matched the $100,000. Villa Tugendhat was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.

In 2007 the heirs of Fritz and Greta formally applied for the restitution of the villa, citing a law covering works of art confiscated during the Holocaust. The reason for this application appears to be frustration over the failure of the municipality of Brno to carry out vital restoration work due to the deterioration of the concrete used in construction. Entire sections of the interior were missing. Later, parts of the original wood panelling were accidentally found at Masaryk University, a building used by the Gestapo as their Brno headquarters.

The house was a principal location in the 2007 film Hannibal Rising, serving as the Villa of the villain, Vladis Gutas. Simon Mawer's 2009 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, The Glass Room, is a fictional account of a house inspired primarily by the Villa Tugendhat.

A reconstruction and restoration of the villa started in February 2010 with estimated costs of 150 million CZK (app. 5,769,000 EUR; 7,895,000 USD). This reconstruction finished in February 2012 and the villa was reopened to the public in March. To celebrate the villa’s return to form, the Royal Institute of British Architects launched ‘Villa Tugendhat in Context’, an exhibition in London giving a visual history of the building and a record of the recent renovation through the testimony of three generations of photographers.

Photo gallery

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  Front view

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  Entrance to the family rooms on the left. A staircase in that side of the building leads down to the living room.

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  View from the street after reconstruction in 2012

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  View of the left side from the street 2012

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  View of the left side from the street.

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  The onyx wall in the living room

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  View of the living room with the onyx wall on the left.

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  The view across the city from the living room, the onyx wall to the left.

External links

• Official Website of Villa Tugendhat