Less known Prague villa of architect Loose will open to the public for a week

Prague - Starting today, the Winternitz Villa will be open to the public for a few days, the second, lesser-known building by the famous functionalist architect Adolf Loos. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the extraordinary interior of the building, which is privately owned and mostly inaccessible, until February 23, from 12:00 to 18:00. The villa is located on Na Cihlářce Street in Prague 5.

The Smíchov villa is named after lawyer Josef Winternitz, who had it built. Loos worked on the villa design with Karel Lhota, similar to what he did with the more famous Müller Villa in Střešovice, completed shortly before.

Just like in the Střešovice villa, Loos applied his principle of so-called Raumplan in the Smíchov villa, meaning the graduated heights of individual rooms in the house according to their function and symbolic significance. The villa is smaller than the Müller Villa, and the interiors are not as lavishly equipped; however, it bears the unmistakable signature of the famous architect.

In 1943, the villa was confiscated by the Germans from its owners and subsequently sold to Prague. The building served as a kindergarten from then until the 1990s. In the late 1990s, the descendants of the original owner retrieved the villa and renovated it.

The spaces will feature sculptures, paintings, photographs, glass objects, and video mapping. Most of the works will be by contemporary creators such as Michal Cimaly, Denisa Grimmová, Miroslav Liederhaus, Petr Voříšek, Tomáš Havránek, Pavel Smolík, and others, while the 1930s will be represented by the famous sculptor Hana Wichterlová. One of the rooms will be dedicated to a current exhibition on the history of the villa. Besides visual art, the villa will also come alive with theater over the weekend.

"Recently, I found several personal belongings belonging to my great-grandfather. In addition to them, visitors will see, for example, family correspondence with architect Loos and Lhota, requests for the return of property after returning from the concentration camp, original plans of the villa, and photographs of the owners from the 1930s," said the event organizer, David Cysař, the great-grandson of Josef Winternitz.