Koryčany are looking for a use for the dilapidated villa of furniture maker Thonet

photo: rionka

Koryčany (Kroměřížsko) - Koryčany in the Kroměříž region are looking for a use for the dilapidated villa of the inventor of bent furniture, Michael Thonet. He had it built in a small park next to his first Moravian factory, which he established in Koryčany in 1856. He lived in the villa for several years, and it was also used by his descendants. Later, it served, for example, as a nursery school and a grocery store. The estimated costs for repairing the building are between 50 and 60 million crowns, said Lubomír Daníček (an independent elected member of ZVUK 12) to ČTK.

The villa is in a sorry state. In two places, the ceiling is collapsing due to water infiltration into the building, while elsewhere wooden structures are being damaged by dry rot. Some rooms cannot be entered at all. The villa impresses at first glance with some architectural features. For example, the railing reveals its origin from the bent furniture factory, the bright entry hall is noteworthy, as is the air flow system that prevented the cellars from getting damp, or the original rainwater tank that once helped reduce the consumption of drinking water.

"The city must gradually secure funds from its budget for the remediation of the parts that need to be secured and prepare project documentation for a specific purpose and use," Daníček stated. According to him, it is unrealistic for the city to repair the villa from its own resources. So far, no suitable grant source is emerging either. Daníček believes that the councilors could decide on the future of the villa by the end of this electoral term. The building could house a museum, serve cultural purposes, or be used for the needs of the city office.

The city also wants to negotiate the purchase of the remaining land that once belonged to the cultural house next to Thonet's villa, according to Daníček. The town hall would like the area around the villa and the cultural house to form a cohesive whole with park improvements. The town hall has been the owner of Thonet's villa for about three years. The German inventor, designer, and manufacturer of bent wood furniture, Michael Thonet, founded a factory in Bystřice pod Hostýnem in 1861 after establishing the Koryčany factory, where the TON company still produces bent furniture today.

Thonet's factory in Koryčany merged with the Kohn and Mundus company after World War I. During communism, it became a national enterprise. In the 1990s, the factory was acquired by the Koryna company, which prospered for several years but went bankrupt in 2012, and its assets were subsequently sold off. According to Daníček, instead of the former approximately 1200 employees in the factory complex, only about one-tenth of that number currently works there.