Müller’s Villa

Completed in 1930.

Müller’s villa in the Střešovice district of Prague, sometimes called Loos’s villa, was designed in 1928–1930 for the prominent real estate developer František Müller and his wife Milada. The design was created by architect Adolf Loos, who worked on the project with Karel Lhota. After František Müller’s death in 1951, the villa was nationalised and his wife Milada was left with only a small flat in the villa, while the rest of the house was turned into offices. In the 1990s, the villa was returned to their daughters and later bought by the City of Prague and inscribed on the list of national cultural heritage. The building was reconstructed by Václav Girsa’s studio and opened to the public in 2000. A Study and Documentation Centre of Adolf Loos was built nearby.

The villa is located on a corner and on a hill, appearing on the outside like a simple cube built in purist style. The seemingly strict building is conspicuous because of its windows, arranged irregularly and in connection with the so-called raumplan, which very originally divides the interior spaces of the building both vertically and horizontally, according to their functions, as opposed to the classic division into individual storeys. For example, the lounge and the dining room have an interesting design, which symbolically separates them by the difference in the floor level. The smooth purist building has a noteworthy interior, which uses decorative stone, precious wood, glass, leather and textile. Loos also designed the built-in and some of the loose furniture in the interior, and he also participated in the original design of the garden.