Movie Night: Adolf Loos- Revolutionary Among Architects

9 March Preview at Van Schijndel House in Utrecht

A new documentary portrait of an architect, uncompromising critic and eccentric who changed the way we think about architecture. Directed by A. Kisil, this new documentary presents the legacy of architect Adolf Loos through unpublished archival materials and personal stories of his family and collaborators. Today, most of the houses and interiors designed by this now world-famous architect, who was a Brno native, Viennese dandy, Czechoslovak citizen and cosmopolitan, can be found in Prague, Pilsen, and Brno and they are all included in our conference tour program 22-26 May!

The tour programme of our 7th International Iconic Houses Conference includes no fewer than eight houses and interiors designed by Adolf Loos.
Most important is Villa Müller in Prague in which Loos realised his famous 'Raumplan'.

Practical info
7.30-8pm - walk-in
8-9 pm - screening
Czech spoken, English subtitled.
The screening is organised in partnership with the Czech Centre Rotterdam and CzechTourism Benelux.
Register via e-mail at the Czech Centre: cchaag@czech.cz.
Maximum 45 seats, first come first served.
Address: Pieterskerkhof 8, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Adolf Loos in Prague

Villa Müller
Adolf Loos was an important European pioneer of modern architecture. He designed Villa Müller for Milada and František Müller is a masterpiece of internationa lavantgarde architecture. František Müller was co-owner of the Kapsa-Müller construction company and one of the leading figures in Czech society. The collaboration between an enlightened client and a brilliant architect gave Loos the opportunity to realise his ideas on spatiality, his so-called 'Raumplan'. The interior is a surprisingly harmonious mix of modern-functionalism with the classical English style. After an eventful post-war history, the villa was restored and opened to the public as a National Monument between 1997-2000.

Villa Winternitz
Villa Winternitz is the last building designed by Adolf Loos that had been finished before his death. It was built in 1932 for lawyer Josef Winternitz and his family. They inhabited a spacious building with all the aspects of a Loos' house Raumplan, built-in furniture, beautiful materials and unexpected colours. Everything had survived the 20th century and was carefully reconstructed at the beginning of the 21st century.

The villa opened to the public April 2017. Visitors can explore the house by themselves without reservation or they can book a guided tour or take part in cultural activities. Villa Winternitz houses music performances, theatrical plays, exhibitions and lectures. It also provides an unexpected and marvellous views of the very city centre of Prague. Last but not least, it is possible to rent the house for an overnight stay. Two guests can enjoy the whole building, all three terraces and a large garden around the house. Breakfast included.

Adolf Loos Apartment & Gallery
The unique and original Richard Hirsh apartment in Pilsen was designed in 1927 for Martha and Willy Hirsch by the pioneer of twentieth century modern architecture, architect Adolf Loos (1870-1933). The devastated apartment was rediscovered in Pilsen in 1988. The complete interior has been consequently saved, carefully restored on the initiative of the Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery and re-installed in another apartment of approximately the same size in the heart of Prague. Today, the apartment is fully furnished with original pieces designed by Loos and is open to public, serving as an art gallery and an auction house. In 2012, Professor Burkhardt Rukschcio, one of the world’s leading experts on the work of Adolf Loos, has published a book dedicated to this architectonic treasure.

One of the world's most comprehensive collections of Loos's original furniture and glassware designs is on permanent view at the Adolf Loos Apartment & Gallery. Ever since it was re-installed, new unique and original works of art designed by Adolf Loos have been added to the collection, including a famous 1912 sitting set from Villa Rosenfeld, comprising four chairs and a table with a marble board. Once, the family friend Sigmund Freud, as well as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele, used to sit on these chairs. Other additions to the collection range from an original clock from Villa Strasser, a 1923 wardrobe from the menswear department store Leschka & Co., a smoking set, to one of the first Lobmeyr glasses (designed for the architect Paul Engelmann) and two Knieschwimmer armchairs (F.O.Schmidt from 1910, and UP Werke from 1932).

Loos Interiors in Pilsen

Brummel House
The most valuable and preserved of all Loos’ Pilsen realizations is the home he designed for Jan Brummel and his family at 58 Husova Street. Jan Brummel was in the construction lumber business. From 1927-1929, this once architecturally average house, with a façade designed to fit the Romantic Historicism style of the late 19th century, was radically reconstructed according to Loos’ design. The exterior appearance of the original home was completely transformed when Loos removed all the decorative elements from the façade, and when he hid the single-pitched roof behind the high attic. He also added a vertical extension to the west side of the home. In this way, the building gained an unmistakable form of progressive and modern architecture.

However, the most valuable part of his design is located inside the house. On the first floor of the home, you’ll find a unique, two-generation apartment for Jan and Jana Brummel, as well as for Jana’s mother, Hedvika Liebstein. The apartment features a perfectly thought-out interior. Both sections of the apartment, meaning both the young Brummels’ and Mrs. Hedvika Liebstein’s living spaces, could function independently or as an interconnected common dining hall. The individual rooms were equipped with unique, built-in furniture, and they feature an axial symmetry which is quite typical of Adolf Loos and his designs. The symmetry of the rooms enhances the continuous view of the adjoining spaces. The interiors of the apartment have been preserved almost in their complete state, including the unique and rare collection of original free-standing furniture designed by Adolf Loos.

Apartment of Dr. Vogl
From the originally spacious Apartment of the Vogl family, at 12 Klatovská Street, only the dining room and living room have been preserved. The adaptation of the apartment, based on the design by Adolf Loos, was made in 1928 for the paediatrician Dr Josef Vogl and his wife Štěpánka, who was the daughter of the house owner. The interior was created in the apartment of one of Loos’ previous designs from 1908. At that time, Loos had designed the space for the family of entrepreneur Otto Beck. Otto Beck later moved, together with the furniture designed by Loos, to the Müller’s house at 2 Náměstí Míru. Twenty years later, Adolf Loos redesigned this same interior for the family of Dr Vogl. This time, however, he included a doctor’s office with a waiting room and an X-ray workplace. Unfortunately, the medical section of the apartment was destroyed, together with the bedroom and children’s room, which were located in the private areas of the apartment.

The preserved lounge still boasts its decoration by means of a cherry wood veneer, with built-in frames for Japanese wood-engravings, and the adjoining strip of dark green wallpaper. In the axis of the front section of the living room, Loos created a distinctive feature typical of his designs – a fireplace made of red bricks, with a mirror wall placed above it, the whole of which was then lined by half columns of shell-covered marble. The dining room offers a view of the yellow travertine walls and yet another mirror wall, which is positioned just above the buffet counter. The Vogls fled in exile to escape the Nazis. After the war, they were forced to flee from Pilsen once again, this time to escape the new communist regime.

Apartment of the Kraus Family
One of the most beautiful Pilsen apartment interiors designed by Adolf Loos is the Apartment of the Kraus Family. It has been preserved on the first floor of the apartment building at 10 Bendova Street. The interior was created for the chemical engineer Vilém Kraus and his wife Gertrude between 1930-1931. Unfortunately, the history of the apartment and its inhabitants is quite sad and dramatic. Only Vilém Kraus survived World War II and the persecution of the Nazi regime (his wife and two children were killed in a concentration camp). The apartment was subsequently seized by the totalitarian communist regime, which forced Vilém Kraus to flee once again in exile to Great Britain. During the communist era, the original apartment was divided into three smaller apartment units, and part of the original interior furniture was irreversibly destroyed.

The most valuable area in the apartment is the exclusive lounge connected with the dining room. The main motive used here is a mirroring effect; the mirror walls opposite each other create the illusion of an endlessly reflected space. Loos created a delicate combination of walls tiled with green, white-veined Cipollino marble and wooden, built-in furniture and a cassette ceiling, both of which feature high-quality, dark brown mahogany wood. Here we can find a characteristic fireplace made of grey bricks, one of Adolf Loos’ typical design features. Particularly valuable is the nearly 100% preserved bedroom, with furniture built into the perimeter walls of the room. This part of the apartment has survived, and it includes intriguing, practical design details – a dressing table, hat hooks in the wardrobes, drawers and other well-thought-out storage areas.

The Semler Residence
Oskar Semler’s family first lived on Jagellonská Street (near today’s Klatovská Street). It was from this residence that they originally planned to move to a family home at 19 Klatovská Street, which would also include space for their company headquarters. This move, however, meant the home needed to undergo significant renovations and an addition of two extra floors. With these complications in mind, Oskar Semler eventually came to an alternative solution, i.e. he decided to buy an apartment building at 110 Klatovská Street. In 1932, he asked Adolf Loos to create a project for the generous adaptation of the apartment, which would encompass one entire wing of the home. However, due to Loos’ failing health and subsequent death, the completion of his design and renovation ideas were taken over by his disciple and collaborating architect, Heinrich Kulka. Oskar Semler moved with his family to their new home in 1934.

This is the only apartment in Pilsen where Loos implemented his unique principle of Raumplan – the individual rooms in the apartment differ in their height, having been elevated to several different levels and interconnected by stairs to create continuously adjoined spaces. In the apartment, we can admire the Raumplan principle via the spacious lounge with its cladding of Finnish birch, the flooring made of rare Makassar, and the fireplace of clinkstone blocks. There is also a bookcase, red-painted ceiling beams, and gilded planks. A number of details have survived to this day, including the dumbwaiter which was used for transporting food from the kitchen to the individual rooms at their varied height levels. The apartment is divided into two sections: the first is accessible to visitors, and the second remains a carefully separated private area, containing the bedrooms and children’s rooms on the upper floor of the house.

The Semler Residence was transferred as property of the City of Pilsen to the Pilsen Region, and now it’s managed by the Gallery of West Bohemia. The Semler Residence, included the formally inaccessible private areas of the apartment (i.e., the bedrooms and children’s rooms), was reopened in September 2022 to the public after its expansive renovations. The newly-built Centre for Research of Pilsen Region Architecture is now part of the Oskar Semler residence exposition. And the Semler Café in the Semler Residence offers a cosy place to sit and enjoy good coffee and cakes over a book or with good company before your tour of the Loos Interiors.

Hugo Semler’s Apartment
The Semler family owned a factory producing drawn-wire products. They were particularly well-known for manufacturing high-quality gramophone needles. They lived in their home at 19 Klatovská Street, which also included their factory and office headquarters on the ground floor of the house. After the death of the company’s founder, Šimon Semler, his son Hugo and his family lived in the house. It was Hugo who had the apartment reconstructed in 1930.

Adolf Loos designed a gorgeous music lounge, which was strictly symmetrical and lined with white Fantastico marble. The marble boasted black veining, and it resembled all sorts of surreal creatures. In the centre of the main wall, Adolf Loos positioned a fireplace made of bricks with, as was his style, a mirror placed wall above it. The built-in furniture and doors in Hugo Semler's Apartment were made of elm wood. From the adjacent gentlemen’s lounge, the room was variably separable by a glass sliding wall. The gentlemen’s lounge and the dining room, which were most likely designed by some of Loos’ collaborators, were also preserved. In 1932, Loos designed a two-storey extension of the house, which, unfortunately was never built.

Posted February 12, 2023