Exceptional Prague villas: A bold minimalistic building by František Strnad
The project designer of the building is the renowned architect Josef Gočár. He utilized his talent, and gave free roam to his fantasy. The result? Beauty and luxury, in a word refined living. The luxurious villa from the first half of 20’s of the 20th century stands in Prague 6 – Bubeneč, in the street Na Marně.
Someone else’s idea, but his own building company.
The property developer, František Strnad, left the creation of the project plans to the renowned architect Gočár, but the construction was my made by his company. Brick by brick he built the house of his dreams, and he did so in a purist style. Which in practice means, that the building is free of any decorative elements, which gives emphasis to the artistic and luxury appearance of the geometric shapes and their pure beauty of lines, and precision.
Nothing but the best for himself
It would have been sad, if František Strnad had built beautiful houses only for his customers. So, he also built a notable mansion for himself. The exterior was characterized by a protruded glass wall, which was however removed during reconstruction in the 50’s. The interior begins in the ground floor, where there used to be a living room, craftily divided by glass panels, which were moveable, and gave the possibility to extend the living space, when there was a greater number of guests.
There were two rooms upstairs – bedrooms with bathrooms. The second floor was for house servants, and utility space – laundry and drying room.
The interior with a trace of work by famous artists
Although, the exterior was poor in artistic expression, the interior of the building is filled with the work of famous artists, such as František Kysela, Otto Gutfreund, Josef Bílka, and Kamil Roškot.
The fate of the famous, luxury villa
The house was built in the years 1925–1926, but only 3 years later the family sold it to Matěj Valter. It changed owners before the Second World War again. After the year 1948, the owner of the villa became the state of Czechoslovakia, which leased the building to the Mongolian Embassy. In the years 1958–1964, it lost the status of habitable space, and it was converted into a commercial space for the printing agency Nová Čína.
