The most famous villa in Moravia

Until the outbreak of World War I, Brno was a distant "suburb" of Vienna and an area of textile production in Austria-Hungary. The rise of independent Czechoslovakia changed this state of affairs forever. The capital of Austria found itself in the territory of another state, and the young federation decided to transform the city into a modern center of the armed industry. As early as 1919, suburban villages were joined to Brno, the city area increased threefold, and the population exceeded 200,000. Rapid industrialization and urbanization was an impulse for changes in the city's appearance. In accordance with the dreams of the founders of Czechoslovakia, cities such as Brno were to stand out with modernist, avant-garde simplicity and clearly stand out from the neo-Baroque splendor typical of the fallen monarchy.

In the 1920s, the city developed in two directions. New villa buildings with a clearly luxurious character dominated the western suburbs, filling the space of the Stránice and Žabovřesky districts divided by the Wilson Forest. When in 1928, on the tenth anniversary of regaining independence, a national exhibition of Contemporary Culture of Czechoslovakia was organized in Brno, one of the side events was the Nový dům exhibition organized in this part of the city, under which sixteen villas with surprising functionalist simplicity were created.

The second place of expansion of the Brena modernity was the Černá Pole district, located on the north side of the city, where more and more investments were started on a hill above Lužánky Park. In the discussed period, the most interesting creators of Czechoslovak modernism worked in both places, including Bohuslav Fuchs and Jiří Kroha. The meeting place of the local bohemia was Cafe Era built here in 1929. The functionalist design of the Josef Kranz project was one of the most important examples of the reference to the aesthetics of the Dutch group De Stijl. When the construction of the cafe was completed, just two quarters further, at 45 Černopolní Street, another building began to be erected, which occupies a special place in the avant-garde architectural gallery in Brenda.

In 1930, on the high slope on the northern side of Lužánky Park, the family of Fritz and Greta Tugendhat moved into their new villa. In 1904, below the hill and right next to the park, a villa of the Alfred and Marianna Löw-Beer family was built. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alfred Löw-Beer was one of the most important producers of woolen fabrics in the city. The new Brenian home of a wealthy Jewish family was established shortly after the birth of the third child, daughter Greta. A quarter of a century later, after graduating from economic studies in Vienna and the end of her first unsuccessful marriage, Greta Löw-Beer returned to her hometown of Brno. Soon after, she joined a representative of another family of textile industrialists with Fritz Tugendhat. When Fritz proposed to Greta, her father gave the newlyweds a plot at the back of his estate. The design of the new house was initially to be prepared by the Brno architect Ernst Wiesner. However, the results of his work were not satisfactory, and eventually Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the star of German modernism, was addressed. A year earlier, Berlin's publicity was brought to light by a light functionalist pavilion that represented the Weimar Republic at the World Exhibition in Barcelona. The ideas of social architecture were close to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and as part of his organization Deutscher Werkbund, an exhibition opened in 1927 in Stuttgart was prepared, and a number of community houses were erected at the Weissenhof settlement created for her needs. At the end of the first decade of the Weimar Republic, it was one of the most important manifestos of modernism. At the same time, from the early 1920s, van der Rohe prepared luxury villa projects for wealthy industrialists, including the Wolf family from Gubin. The residents of buildings designed by the future director of Bauhaus were divided by a financial gap. Their houses, however, were connected by modernist aesthetics designed according to the principle that form should follow function.

The Tugendhat House in Breen was one of the most important achievements in the interwar chapter of the architect's career. The three-story building was built on a high hill. From the side of the entrance and Černopolní Street, only the upper floor opening towards the spacious terrace can be seen. The living space of the Tugendhat family is placed below. It was here that the architect placed a spacious living room with a view of the city: the majestic towers of the cathedral of St. Peter and Paul and the body of the Špilberk castle dominating over the city. Panorama has become particularly close thanks to the use of a revolutionary solution: two of the powerful eye of the living room lower to the floor level, so that the interior can be combined with the space outside at any time. According to the idea close to modernists, nature has been tamed and subordinated to the needs of man.

As in the Barcelona Pavilion, the open space is accompanied by luxurious furnishings and details. The living room is crowned with a wall of translucent stone - aragonite. Travertine was also reached, and the semi-circular wall separating the dining room was inlaid with mahogany. The whole was complemented by lightweight furniture made of chrome pipes and flat bars, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed together with Lilly Reich. The chairs for the Tugendhat villa were distinguished by a hanging, legless structure.

Greta and Fritz Tugendhat moved into their new home in December 1930. At that time, the effects of the great crisis devastated the economies of European countries. A few years later, the never-ending crisis and massive unemployment paved the way for power for Adolf Hitler. In 1938, in fear of the Nazis, the Tugendhat family decided to leave their modernist arcadia and emigrate to Switzerland. Even before the Third Reich invaded Czechoslovakia, the Tugendhat family increased by four children, who spent their first years at home on Černopolní Street.














In 2009, the International Cultural Center in cooperation with the Art Museum in Olomouc prepared the exhibition "House of Art Lover. Arts in Bohemia and Moravia 1870–1930”. It was decorated with chairs and armchairs, which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich designed for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat.