This detached villa surrounded by a garden is a valuable example of villa architecture based on modernist principles. It was built for the Austro-Hungarian army captain Alois Polansky and his wife Maria. The couple purchased the land from Anton Kronas on 27 April 1913, and the villa’s ground plan was laid out in the autumn of 1913. Subsequently, a garden house containing a coachman’s living quarters, stables and a shed was built by the entrance to the property from Květná Street. The villa itself was completed in 1914 according to plans by Siegmund Müller, a professor at Berlin’s technical university.
The nearly square-shaped building, whose main elevation faces Květná Street, was designed according to the traditional concept of the three-part palace composition. Two massive polygonal avant-corps on the corners of the main elevation are topped by gazebo roofs, and an arched gable with large windows on the central recessed part of the building sits underneath a hipped roof. The symmetrical composition is further complemented by a broad semi-circular portico with Ionic columns holding up a second-floor terrace with a subtle ornamental metal railing placed between stone pillars. The main rectangular entrance on the right elevation is covered by another portico with Ionic columns supporting a terrace on the first floor. Next to this, at a slightly lower level, is the servants’ entrance, bordered by bands of fair-faced stonework. The entire building is encircled by a socle composed of massive stone blocks. The building’s rear entrance is visually accentuated by a stone block portal with a vault inscribed with the initials A.P. (Alois Polansky). On the rear facade’s central axis is a distinctive glazed semi-circular avant-corps with ornamentally arranged windows. When built, the villa boasted the latest technologies, such as central heating and a remarkable system of sliding ‘American windows’ that have survived to this day, including the original louvered shading systems.
On the villa’s ground floor was a large social space that communicated with the garden via windows and a terrace. At its centre was a main hall with a wooden staircase and a built-in fireplace. All the reception areas were decorated in the Art Deco style and had stucco ceilings. The main hall’s wooden panelling, light fittings and oak parquet floors have been preserved. The first floor was a private area equipped with white lacquered built-in furniture. From the main stairs, one could reach a north-facing terrace and the kitchen with pantry. Also on the first floor was a bedroom connected to a dressing room, large bathroom and the southern terrace, plus a pair of children’s rooms, one of which opened onto the eastern terrace above the entrance portico.
Much of the property consists of an extensive garden. Some of the mature, mostly coniferous trees in the area between the villa and Květná Street probably date from the time of construction. Along Květná Street, the garden is bounded by a wrought-iron fence with geometric ornamental motifs, mounted on a socle clad in stone slabs. In the fence are a pedestrian gate and a gateway for vehicles, the wings of which are emblazoned in the middle with the stylized monogram A.P.
In 1919, the villa and garden were purchased by Ernst and Grete Stiassni. Ernst Stiassni was the brother and business partner of the better-known Alfred Stiassni, who built the nearby Villa Stiassni. Over the following years, Ernst Stiassni purchased additional properties above the villa and expanded the garden towards today’s Preslova Street. In the 1930s, he had a greenhouse and tennis court built in the garden according to plans by Artur Eisler. The family lived in fourteen rooms, with another one-room unit located in the attic. During the Protectorate, the building was inhabited by the Supreme District Councillor Eberhard Westerkamp, Oberst Paul Engels, Jaroslav Matys (gardener), Vojtěch Navrátil (chauffeur) and a private individual, Kateřina Švihálková. In 1943, the cellar was turned into an air-raid shelter. Today, the villa serves as the headquarters of a company. In 2007, it underwent a heritage-sensitive renovation with an eye to its historical value. The building is very well preserved both inside and out.
Pavla Cenková