Tugendhat Villa

Tugendhat Villa
The Tugendhat Villa is a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture. It was created by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The building in Brno was built in 1930 for Fritz Tugendhat, owner of a Brno textile factory.

Exquisite materials and modern technologies were used in the construction of this house. Its main structure is made of reinforced concrete with steel frames. The exterior of the house is painted white. The back wall of the living area is made of onyx panels from the Atlas Mountains.
The original furniture was also designed by Mies van der Rohe, such as the so-called Tugendhat chair.
The house had central heating and an air-conditioning system with a regulated fine-spray humidifying chamber.

Year Decision Comments
2001 Inscribed Reasons for inscription



Visit April 2007

The villa is located in a residential area of Brno, and can easily be reached by public transport or by foot. Bear in mind that an essential part of its lay-out is the difference in height, so the last part of the walk is uphill.
I had arranged a guided visit. There were about 15 other interested visitors, mostly Czech. The whole tour was in Czech, the foreign visitors had to make do with a small booklet. The guide points out all the little details, unfortunately I missed out on some by not understanding the Czech explanation.

The house itself is a great treat of course. That view from the living room into the garden! Just like you're living in a country mansion, while in fact the house is located in a rather average city street.

Brno itself is a rather funny place to visit. One of my colleagues described it as a 'city full of prostitutes and tramps'. How bad can it be, I thought. Well, if you're attracted to people walking around with beer cans, or tasting Czech experiments in Chinese cookery, or have an above average interest in trams, or like to take advantage of free internet use for females AND don't mind a few sex clubs here and there - then you really have to check it out!

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

Christer Sundberg (Sweden):
Over the years the World Heritage List have taken me to a number of brilliant architectural sites - from the Bauhaus sites in Dessau and Weimar, the Rietveld Schröderhuis in Utrecht, Victor Horta’s brilliant Art Noveaux houses in Brussels to the exceptional architectural pearls in Barcelona by Antoni Gaudí. I am absolutely sure that there are much more to appoint in this category and I hope this is something Unesco will prioritise more in the future.

The Tugenhat Villa in Brno is a functionalistic, open-plan Bauhaus building from 1929, that was built by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for a rich newlywed couple. With WWII and the communist period to follow, the beautiful villa in the suburb of Ĉerná Pole, have had quite a different history than maybe once intended but over the last 10 years it has been carefully restored to the state it was once meant to be in.

Guided tours are made every hour, unfortunately only in Czech, and I hope that tours in additional languages will be available in the future as well as a removal of the ridiculous photo-ban that no one seemed to follow anyway. At the time of my visit, many other disappointed people had to walk away since only groups of approx 20 people are allowed in per hour. My advise for your visit is therefore to pre-book well in advance.
 
Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
I have to admit that I´m not the biggest fan of modern architecture and I don´t really know much about it. But since I was in Brno anyway, I thought I could see another WH site and go to the Villa Tugendhat. It´s a short tram ride from the center, or about a 25-minute walk. Frankly, I wasn´t overly impressed by what I saw, but I didn´t expect otherwise. I thought it was just an ordinary building that was pretty fancy for its time. The big room downstairs and the view of the garden are nice, though. I guess some like modern architecture, some don´t. As usual in the Czech Republic, there were guided tours in Czech only, and pretty mediocre brochures in German and English. The site is still open until the end of October before it will be closed for a few years for restoration works. Maybe the visitor services will improve then. Brno, by the way, is in my opinion quite a pleasant city (with the notable exception of the Soviet-style train station), with a huge cathedral and the impressive Spielberg fortress (now, that would be World Heritage material in my mind, but it isn´t even on the Czech tentative list...).
 
catherine stepan (US/Czech Republic):
After living and working in Brno for almost a year, I finally made it out to the Tugendhat Villa. The villa was beautiful and the attention it is now getting is worth it and well deserved. But the main reason for my reply is in response to the very negative commentary about Brno authored by someone who, obviously, spent very little time in the Brno city center itself, and who must have relied solely on the travel advice of the "colleague" mentioned in the article.
First of all, even though the tour at Tugendhat is in Czech, (which is the native language spoken in location of the villa!) the tour guide spoke English very well and gladly answered any questions directed to him by English speakers- in English.
Secondly, Brno is home to MUCH more than the prostitutes and tramps you, unfortunately, encountered. Had you followed the advice of a better colleague, perhaps you might then have noticed the numerous parks, universities, theatres, vineyards, cafes, and abundance of greenspace that the city of Brno has to offer.
And as far as food is concerned, there are a number of ethnic restaurants tucked away in locations throughout the city which offer tasty dishes of Thai, Greek, Ukranian cuisine. There is an open market held every day at Zelny trh which offers home-grown products ranging from fruits and vegetables to honey and home-made candles....a little less beer and maybe you would have found them.
Regards,
an NYC expat living in Brno
 
():
WARNING: Unfortunately the house is scheduled to be closed from 31.05.2007 for 2 to 4 years for a complete restoration of the whole building.
It is well worth a visit to the site whilst it is open. You will have to definitely have to reserve a tour in advance to see inside.
However you will be able to see very little if the building is closed. There is a large UNESCO plaque on the floor in front of the building though as a small consolation.
 
David Berlanda (Italy / Czech Republic):
One day we have finally visited the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, in the quarter of Èerna Pole, which is situated only 500 metres from my grandparent’s house. This building constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1930 for the family Tugendhat is a masterpiece of the international style in the modern movement. It is a detached house with a floor area of 2000 sq. m. in a residential zone; it has a flat roof and three floors (one facing to the street and three to the garden) with different plans. The entrance is from the street on the north side of the lot, that forms a garden. The uppermost floor includes a terrace, partly open and partly covered, and a balcony. Inside there are an entrance hall, family bedrooms, services, a master bedroom, a dressing room, the garage and the caretaker's lodging. Two stairways bring to the main floor, that has three parts: a part is the main living area (that has large electrically operated windows) with a reception room, a music corner, a study, a library, sitting areas, dining room, services and a winter garden (280 sq. m.), a part that has kitchen facilities and the last one is the servants' area. A stairway brings to the garden floor, that has utility rooms and is used for technical purposes. The house is made of reinforced concrete with steel frames and it's supported by polished still pillars; a steel skeleton also carries ceramic ceiling panels. The exterior of the house is rendered and painted white. In the staircases leading to the garden are used light-coloured travertine tiles and ivory-coloured linoleum in the living hall; the entrance is panelled with dark palisander wood. The back wall of the living area is made of beautiful onyx, brought from the Atlas mountains in Africa, divided in 5m long and 3 m large panels (like the glass wall). The furniture was designed by the architect and some pieces were made specifically for the house (like the Tugendhat chair, in chromium-plated flat steel elements and upholstered in stitched leather) and had a specific place. The house had central heating and an air-conditioning system with a regulated fine-spray humidifying chamber.
Even if it is interesting I was a little bit disappointed by this building and also by its state of conservation, perhaps because I don't like modern architecture like the earlier. It is worth to be visited if you are in or near Brno. I think however that justiefies the inscription because it is one of the biggest masterpieces of modern art and the biggest in Czech Republic and because there aren't many monuments of this type on the WHL. You need booking to visit the interior (there are only guided tours) and it's quite difficult to get there if you don't know Brno.
Photo: Brno - Tugendhat Villa
Date posted: January 2006
Ian Cade (England):
The Vila was built 1928-30 and it is a prime example of the Modern Movement in architecture, it was designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, one of the most important architects of the 20th century, he worked closely with the Bauhaus movement and was a pioneer in glass curtain skyscrapers that came to dominate many cities through-out the world. The Villa is set out on three floors the top one is a reception area with the bedrooms. The main floor is the next one down, it is a large open plan room divided only by two non structural walls. The Onyx wall is pretty stunning I must admit, as are the views over Brno which are probably the best available and the huge ceiling to floor windows make the most of it. The furniture in the Vila are the height of modernist design and contain Mies’ Brno chair which is still in production today and the BBC’s Dan Cruickshank proclaimed it to be one of the 80 treasures of the world. The third floor is just for maintenance and ventilation purposes so you don’t get to see it.
The Tugendhat Villa is on the outskirts of Brno and is pretty easy to reach.. You will have to RESERVE a place to be able to see the inside of the Villa so do get in contact with the Villa before you leave. I was surprise that after several attempts to arrange a time to see the house I was still unable to get a time it seems to be very popular even on a weekday in February! I was even more surprised therefore when I got there and found out I had a tour all by myself which was an odd experience.
To get to the Villa take tram No 5 from the north of the city centre and get off at Èerna Pole then it is about a 2 minute walk up to the Villa, overall from the station it would take about 25-30 minutes to walk it. If you have an interest in modernist architecture this is a must see if you are in the area and I learnt a lot about a movement that before I found to be a little bland however it made me understand Mies’ famous saying that ‘less is more’ and I have now become a big fan of the style.

Oh and here is the e-mail address if you would like to reserve a tour tugendhat-villa@tugendhat-villa.cz
 
david bowers (USA):
Stunning, wonderful experience to see and experience this unique place.
Tours are well organized and informative; however, you must book a tour in order to enter. Groups are limited to 15; if one is not available in your language, still join--printed information is available, and language shouldn't keep you from this experience.

TUGENDHAT VILLA,Èernopolní 45, phone +420 545 212 118, open Wednesdays - Sundays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., last admission at 5.15 p.m. Guided tours only, starting each sharp hour, maximum number of persons per group 15. Advance telephone bookings only!

The trip from Prague can be made by train--out early in the morning; back in evening. This allows some time for exploring the town--you could also spend a couple of days here. G. Mendel, the monk who discovered genetics through his study of peas, lived and worked here-- there is a well done little museum at his monestary.
 


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