Jablonec will buy the functionalist Kantor Villa

Jablonec nad Nisou - Jablonec nad Nisou will purchase the functionalist Kantor Villa for 8.121 million crowns. The house was built in 1934 according to a design by Heinrich Kulka, a student and close collaborator of the classic of modern architecture Adolf Loos. It is one of the most valuable objects of this style in the region, and the town hall would therefore like to open it to the public. Real estate agencies had long offered the house for nine million crowns, but the city managed to negotiate a lower price. The councilors approved the purchase agreement today.

The villa near the Jablonec dam was commissioned by doctor Alfréd Kantor. It resembles the famous Müller Villa in Prague. The heritage-protected house has four floors, and the prominently cubic masses are interrupted by an irregular grid of windows. The most striking feature of the light facade is the entrance with travertine cladding and glazed doors with a grille. A private clinic, a caretaker's room, a garage, and the house's facilities were placed in the partially embedded basement. The villa's ground floor was connected to the garden by way of a terrace.

In the 1980s, the villa was reconstructed. "The most valuable essence has, however, remained preserved by 65 percent," said architect Jan Sapák during the council meeting, who is familiar with Kulka's work. In the Czech Republic, he represents the Kulka Foundation, which was established by the architect's descendants in 2002 in New Zealand with the aim of preserving and developing his legacy. Today, Sapák estimated the reconstruction costs at around ten million crowns. "A complete reconstruction to the original state is not necessary," he explained to the councilors. According to him, the further use of the villa will be important.

The town hall intends to collaborate on the restoration and future use of Kantor Villa specifically with the Kulka Foundation. It has the best prerequisites for this, as it possesses detailed documentation of the villa and experts on Heinrich Kulka's work and is prepared to financially support the project's preparation as well. "It has immediately allocated 100,000 to 150,000 dollars (2.5 to 3.7 million crowns) for the preparation of the project," said Sapák, according to whom the Jablonec villa is undoubtedly an internationally significant building.

Several modern villas built in the early 1930s can be found in Jablonec. The most significant are Háska Villa and Schmelowsky Villa by architect Heinrich Lauterbach and Kantor Villa by Kulka. All of these properties are privately owned and used for residential purposes; they are not open to the public or only exceptionally. Therefore, the town hall decided to take advantage of this unique opportunity and buy Kantor Villa. In the future, the city would like to restore it to its original condition and open it to the public. However, this is a matter of several years. Currently, there are tenants in the villa, and the town hall is purchasing it along with them.