On Sunday
morning we got up super early, at 5.30 p.m., to take a bus and go to Brno. Jan
presented me two tickets to visit Villa Tugendhat of Mies van der Rohe as a
Christmas gift. I can tell you that when he gave it to me I stared crying! So
you can imagine how happy this made me!
Fritz
Tugendhat and his wife Grete commissioned to Mies van der Rohe their family
home. The plot was given to Greta from her father as a wedding present. They
say that Mies was super impressed when he saw the place where the house will be
built. The plot is up to a hill where you can be delighted for marvelous views
of Brno and its skyline with the Spilberk Castle and the Cathedral of St. Peter
and St. Paul.
The house
was designed and built in only 14 months. Mies van der Rohe started working on
the project in the summer 1929. At Christmas of 1930 the family moved to the
new house where they lived only for 7 years.
Tugendhats
were a German Jewish family living in Czechoslovakia. After German Occupation
they had to leave the country and also the house.
In 2012 the
last reconstruction of the house was finished. Now you can visit the house like
it was on Christmas of 1930 where the family started living there with the
replicas of the original furniture.
The
entrance is from Černopolní Street, the highest floor of the building and where
the bedrooms are located. The entrance is emphasized with the stairs’ volume. The
door is from Macassar Ebony with travertine floors.
This is the
ceiling of the principal stairs in the entry hall.
Mies vander Rohe designed all the furniture in the house and decided where to place it exactly.
In the entry hall there are two D42 Cantilever Armchairs and one MR tubular Table.
D42 is a classic cantilever chair designed by Mies van der Rohe for the Bauhaus
in 1927. The structure is from stainless tubular steel and the wicker-work was
created by Lilly Reich, assistant of the architect.
The master bedroom
of Grete Tugendhat is next to the bedroom of Fritz Tugendhat, her husband, and
with a direct connection with the bedroom of the children. There is a MR
tubular Table, a Barcelona Stool and Brno Flat Bar Chair with red leather.
The
bathroom of the parents gets the light from windows next to the ceiling. The
tiles were manufactured by the Czech tile brand Rako for the bathrooms, kitchen
and other services rooms.
This is the
room for the smaller kids, the nursery, with the only furniture not designed by
Mies van der Rohe. The furniture is from a famous Czech brand.
This is the
room for the oldest daughter Hanna with three D42 Cantilever Chairs. The chairs
in this room are in a children size.
This was
the room of the governess Irene Kalkofen or for the guess when it come someone.
In the case a guess comes for a visit the governess stays in the room of Hanna.
This is the
terrace with a direct access from the children’s rooms. The semicircular bench
is decorated with roses on spring.
With a
semicircular stairs we arrive to the main floor where the living room space is.
It’s incredible the feeling of light you have everywhere on this house, more
enfaces in this floor by the white linoleum floor.
This is a
photo taken from the studio of the library area where we can see the piano and
the stairs that connect the two main floors on the background.
The living
room is a unique space separate with walls of different materials and shapes,
or even curtains.
The library
is from Makassar ebony. The chairs are the Tugendhat MR70 Chair and Brno
Tubular Chairs in white leather.
The wall between
the studio-library and the main living space is from onyx stone. The onyx wall
is the most expensive thing in the entire house. This stone let the light pass
through it, creating a unique light in the studio.
In the
lateral façade on this floor there is an indoor garden that makes a transition
between the room and the garden.
In the main
living room space there are three Tugendhat MR70 Chairs in white, three
Barcelona MR90 Chairs in green and a Barcelona Stool. The Tugendhat MR70
Armchair is a cantilever armchair designed by Mies van der Rohe especially for
this house. The Barcelona MR90 Chair was designed for the German Pavilion on
the International Exposition of 1929 hosted in Barcelona.
Next to
this chairs there is a MR Table and a red MR Lounge Chair that works as a
landmark on the living space.
The picture
was taken from the dining room space. The windows are from the floor to the
ceiling and two of them are retractable, they can be open completely on the
summer time. The structural pillars are
from a cross-section with a polished steel covert; these columns are an
important element you can see all around the house.
The dining
room table is made in separate pieces to be adapted to the number of
commensals. This table is really similar to the one on the Villa Muller of
Adolf Loos. The chairs are Brno Tubular Chairs in white leather.
A
semicircular wall of Makassar ebony separates the dining area to the rest of
living space and also the services rooms (the kitchen, the store room or the
preparation room).
The kitchen
has a zinc sink with a big windows though you can see a marvelous views.
The steel
spiral stairs brings you to the utility floor.
This is an
original watching machine from 1930 when the family stared living in the house.
A curious
room in the basement, the last room you can find in this building, after
crossing the many services room like the laundry room or the photo developing
room, there is the fur coats room.
This is the
façade of the garden. The garden was designed by Mies with the collaboration of
Markéta Roder-Müller.
This is the
lateral façade of the garden with the indoor garden area.
The
entrance to the building is from this façade from the Černopolní street. The
garage of this building is here on the top floor.
And finally
here some pictures of some house around the Černá Pole neighborhood, this are
the Villa Tugendhat neighbors.
