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SERIEN IKONEN BEWOHNEN • LIVING IN ICONS

Die Treppe verbindet die drei Geschosse. • The staircase connects the three floors.

Fotos: Hendrik Bohle, Villa Winternitz

Eines der Schlafzimmer im Obergeschoss • One of the bedrooms on the upper floor Portrait von Adolf Loos im schlichten Eingangsbereich • Portrait of Adolf Loos in the plain entrance area

Sie können im Haus bleiben, solange sie wollen. Sie können hier sogar übernachten – mit In 1931, the Jewish lawyer Dr Josef Winternitz commissioned the two architects to design
Frühstück auf dem Dach und Dinner im großen Saal. Im ersten Geschoss finden wech- a 533 square-metre house for his family. The spacious property with fruit trees is located
selnde Architekturausstellungen statt. Auf der zweiten Etage zeigt eine permanente Schau on a slope in the Smíchov district. Many wealthy people had new estates built here high
die Geschichte des Hauses. Es finden Workshops und Vorträge über Kunst und Architek- above Prague’s historic centre. Loos’ last house was built in just one year. Expensive
tur statt. „Menschen mögen es, Kultur an kulturell bedeutenden Orten zu erleben“, sagt building materials were not used. The two architects positioned the simple entrance on
Cysar. Vor fast 100 Jahren ließ sich die Familie Winternitz ein Haus bauen, in dem sie the left-hand side of the house. The vestibule leads either down to the caretaker’s flat
Empfänge und Feiern ausrichtete. Heute bringen David und Kristina das Lebensgefühl or up the narrow staircase to the living area of the house. The room has an impressive
dieser legendären Zeit zurück in eben jenes Haus. Sie veranstalten Tanzabende, Lesungen height and extends over two levels on a floor area of around 100 square metres. A few
und Konzerte. Wer möchte in einer solchen Ikone nicht gerne eine Nacht verbringen? steps up is a smaller living and dining area, which is connected to the kitchen by a door.
The original wooden floors, windows and fixtures have been painstakingly restored. The
I n the 1920s and 30s, the Czechoslovak Republic was regarded as one of the econo- bedrooms and bathrooms on the upper floors are relatively small. The spacious south-fa-
cing roof terrace provides a panoramic view of the city. In 1938, the so-called Munich
mically up-and-coming nations of Europe. At the same time, the still young nation
was one of the nuclei of the European avant-garde. Pioneering modernist buildings were Agreement was signed. Czechoslovakia had to cede the Sudetenland to the Nazis, with
created in Prague, Brno and Zlín. Renowned architects from abroad also built. In 1929, catastrophic consequences for art and culture. The Winternitz family lived in the villa
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created a sensation with the iconic Villa Tugendhat in Brno. until 1941, when they were forced to hand over the property to the Central Office for
Almost at the same time, the Villa Müller by Adolf Loos and Karel Lhota was built in Jewish Emigration. They remained in Prague until 1943, when they were deported to Aus-
Prague. Today, Loos is regarded as a pioneer of European modernism. “Ornament is a chwitz. Josef Winternitz and his son Peter were murdered in the gas chamber on arrival.
crime,” was his credo. The simple façades and his idea of spatial planning, which he His wife Jenny and daughter Suzana were assigned to forced labour, where they survived
artfully took to extremes in the luxurious Prague villa, still have an impact today. Loos under the most difficult conditions until the end of the war. After liberation, they both
and Lhota also designed the somewhat more modest Villa Winternitz. It was previously returned to Prague. However, they were not allowed to return to their villa. Although the
rather unknown – wrongly so. new communist rulers recognized their right to restitution and renewed their property

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