In Brno, the restoration of the functionalist Stiassny villa has begun

Brno - Extensive work has begun in Brno on the restoration of the functionalist Stiassny Villa. Together with the Tugendhat Villa, it stands as an architectural gem of the city. In the past, it also served as a government villa. The restoration to its original Czechoslovak form will cost 179 million crowns. The work will be completed in January 2014, Zdeněk Musil from the Brno monument institute told ČTK today.
     "While meticulously wrapped furniture is being removed from the interiors, workers in the villa's basement are already demolishing non-original partitions," he stated. Non-original bathrooms, which were created shortly before Cuban leader Fidel Castro spent the night in the villa during socialism, will likely also be removed from the building.
     The work will be extensive. Garages for seven cars and greenhouses, which were part of the garden, have been demolished. According to the documentation, the building is set to regain the appearance it had under its original owners from the Jewish industrial family Stiassny.
     Only now are experts discovering how the construction of the complex proceeded technologically. It has been revealed, for example, that the pool only had tiles on the bottom. The sides used a revolutionary method from the First Republic: a grooved form in the concrete resembling tiles.
     The villa will not only serve as an exhibition about functionalism but will also house the Center for the Restoration of 20th Century Architectural Heritage. It will be used not only by art historians but also by architects who will work on restoring buildings that originated during the First Republic.
     The building was commissioned in 1927 by the textile industrialist of Jewish descent Alfred Stiassny, based on the design of architect Arnošt Wiesner, who owned a factory in Brno in Přízová, later known as Vlněna. During the occupation, the Gestapo seized it from the original owners, and after the war, it remained with the state. The family lived in the USA after the war. Stiassny and his wife Hermína died in the 1960s in Hollywood.