Dreamy House of Franz Kafka

The birthplace of Franz Kafka can be found in the immediate vicinity of the baroque St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square in Prague. The writer was born in the house in 1883, at that time still in the former prelature of the Benedictine monastery near St. Nicholas, and lived here with his parents for the first two years of his life before the family moved to Wenceslas Square. A few years later, the house burned down. In 1904, architect Osvald Polívka built a new Art Nouveau building on its site, which was thoroughly inspired by the old house. The most recent generous reconstruction of Kafka's house took place in 2019.

Kafka's house reflects several aspects that strongly influenced its atmosphere. First and foremost, it stands near the former Jewish ghetto. Its walls are also permeated by the spirit of the "turn of the century" – the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. An era conditioned by the earlier industrial revolution contrasted with the romantic need to return to a "pure" life without machines, to a life in harmony with nature and its mysterious forces, and the developing scientific fields and positivist outlook on the world and man within it. The gloominess, tragedy, and hopelessness of the fate of literary characters is often depicted in Kafka's works with ironic humor. A dark, mysterious atmosphere of historical memory also permeates the house and its interior.

Between 2018 and 2019, the house was fully reconstructed, creating exclusive, meticulously designed apartments. The new interior design of Kafka's house respects the elegance of the building itself. The fundamental premise became the idea of memory that is not truth, and life in memories that never happened. Fantasy about Kafka intersects with the patina of the era and the contrast of vitality and inanimateness. The generous layouts of the apartments are complemented by the delicate detail of wooden panelling that lines the common areas (living rooms, hallways, and dining rooms) of all the apartments. Their shape and broken white color freely connect to the original refurbished wooden windows and doors. In some moments, newly created passages cut through the panelling, creating a dialogue between history and the present – between what was and what will never be. The decor further extends into the details of the furniture, providing new contexts.

In the old part of the house, there are three generous apartments on each of the three floors. Part of the newly reconstructed apartments are attic spaces, where three large duplex apartments are located. These feature an open passage area combining historical wooden beams of the framework with modern elements of glass railing and custom-built furniture. The atmosphere of the individual apartments on the lower floors is primarily shaped by the interplay of dark and light spaces. The elemental colors are dark gray and white, which are contrastively complemented by earthy shades of brick or dark purple. The selection of furniture balances on the border between past and present. The furnishings have a simple design and are made of quality basic materials of metal or wood. Shelf systems and writing desks were custom-made. Bathrooms and kitchens are designed very simply, always in white or dark gray, tiled with handmade tiles. Selected chairs or sofas are upholstered in fine decadent velvet in dark shades. The dynamics of the rooms are enhanced by lighting, whether standing or table lamps, or smoky black and clear hand-blown glass ceiling fixtures from the Czech manufacturer BOMMA. Attention was given to every detail. The historical atmosphere is further underscored by the choice of switches. Here, interior designer Denisa Strmisková chose switches from the berker serie 1930 by the company Hager. The serie 1930 switches evoke the historically used ones. Due to their retro appearance and two material choices – porcelain and Bakelite – they are a popular choice among architects for historical buildings, but surprisingly also fit well with the minimalism of contemporary design interiors. Lighting fixtures and their controls – switches and sockets – were supplied by the design store Monobrand.

All the newly created interiors of the house combine classic and modern elements, delicacy and decadence, grandeur and coziness. The spirit of Kafka’s era is transformed into the subtle reflections of handmade tiles, while remaining hidden in the shadows of light beneath the velvet armchairs. The realization of the interiors in Kafka's house has been nominated for the Interior of the Year award in the category of Private Interior – Reconstruction.

Interior of the Apartments on Kafka Square

Address: Nám. Franze Kafky 3, 110 00 Staré Město, Prague 1
Area: 3,357 m²
Realization: July 2018 – December 2019
Architect: ANTA, spol. s.r.o.
Interior Design: Denisa Strmisková, Richard Zacpal, Bořek Němec, Tomáš Holub
Photography: Kubicek Studio

http://denisastrmiskova.com/
https://www.anta.cz/
www.monobrand.cz
www.hager.cz/vypinac