The villa on Černopolní Street was built in 1904 for Ondřej Brandstätter (1873–1949), a high school teacher and later the director of the Third Czech State Secondary School in Brno-Husovice. The traditionally designed, yet generously conceived family house with Romanticist elements was built on a steep slope above Lužánky Park. Brandstätter purchased the plot in September 1903 from Luisa Weiglová, the then-owner of the neighbouring villa at Černopolní 39 (originally the villa of Karel Kaiser). This villa, the first house built in 1860 as part of Brno’s first villa estate, was designed by the builder Josef Arnold. Ondřej Brandstätter entrusted the construction of his home to František Alois Dvořák (1852–1925), who most likely also drafted its architectural design. Dvořák built a number of houses on the Černá Pole slope at the turn of the 20th century, including the apartment buildings on the lower part of Schodová. Although the original plans have not been found, Brandstätter kept a private construction diary which gives the builder’s name as F. A. Dvořák. His records also include a 1905 drawing of the garden landscaping below the villa and a careful calculation of the construction costs, which amounted to 50,000 crowns. A few photographs documenting the locality’s impressive atmosphere have also survived. Since it sits on a slope, only two of the building’s four storeys are visible from the street. There is a wonderful view of the city from the windows and the richly carved wooden loggias on the garden elevation (the wooden loggias have not survived). In the middle of the street elevation, the massive cylindrical staircase tower with a roof lantern is visually lightened by a tall arched window. The main entrance at the bottom of the tower, which is framed by a portico with cylindrical columns and a tall entablature, is accessed via a footbridge over a deep cut into the hillside. To the right of the staircase tower is a double-arched loggia with cylindrical columns resting on a balustrade. Due to the absence of plans, the interior layout cannot be described in more detail.
Ondřej Brandstätter is an interesting figure within the broader cultural and historical context. He was a co-founder and later the chairman of the Studentská klinika association (1906–1949), which initiated construction of Masaryk Student Dormitory in Brno (Bohuslav Fuchs, 1929–1930, C241) and of the Masaryk Student Sanatorium in Bílovice nad Svitavou (Vlastislav Chroust, 1926–1930). Brandstätter’s son, the mechanical engineer Vladimír Brandstätter (1900–1939), was a member of professor Karel Absolon’s team and one of the ‘strong four’ involved in studying the Moravian Karst: Karel Absolon, Vladimír Brandstätter, Karel Divíšek and Vladimír Ondroušek. Vladimír Brandstätter helped to explore Plánivy Cave near Holštejn, and the Brandstätter Abyss is named after him. After 1932, he co-owned his father’s villa with his sister Alena Adámková. The building is still used as a residence and is very well preserved.
Dagmar Černoušková
