One of the unique villas in Olomouc has become a monument

Olomouc - The Ministry of Culture has declared one of a group of five unique Olomouc villas on Vienna Street a cultural monument. The individual villas were designed by the prominent Austrian architect, native of Přerov of Jewish descent, Jakob Gartner. The other villas are also expected to be gradually included in the list of monuments. According to experts, they rank among the top not only in the city but also on a national scale. Vlastimil Staněk from the Olomouc branch of the National Heritage Institute informed ČTK about this.
    Gartner designed the buildings for the most important industrialists of Olomouc. They were built between 1895 and 1898. "Each of them is unique, but in the context of Vienna Street, which was considered an exclusive residential area after the demolition of the Olomouc fortress in the last third of the 19th century, they form a cohesive unit toward the city gardens," Staněk stated. He noted that the villas have been preserved in nearly authentic form, including the interiors.
    Architect Jakob Gartner (1861-1921) designed the houses in various historicizing styles from Gothic to Renaissance to Rococo. The theatrical façades are segmented by combinations of balconies, loggias, gables, terraces, high roofs, and rich stucco decorations. "Jakob Gartner's personality is of fundamental importance for Olomouc - he contributed to the current face of the city by realizing the urban concept of Camillo Sitte," Staněk stated. Gartner was responsible, for example, for the appearance of the Institute for Girls' Education of Count Pötting in Olomouc, the savings bank on Radniční Street in Šternberk, the rental and commercial building "U Tří kohoutů" in Brno, or the Empress Elisabeth Shelter in Vienna. His synagogues were mainly located in Vienna and almost throughout Moravia; however, none have survived in their original form.
    Due to the extent of the proposal for the declaration as a monument, the Ministry of Culture divided the group into smaller units of individual villas. The villa at 2 Vienna Street, built in 1895 in the style of German Renaissance for Eduard Hamburger, a successful malt businessman and longtime chairman of the Olomouc Jewish Community, was declared a cultural monument as the first of the proposed buildings. According to experts, it is the most valuable and most prestigious work among all five proposed villas.
    Also awaiting registration on the list of monuments is the villa built in the style of late Northern Renaissance for Wilhelm Briesse, who worked in the malt business, a villa in the Baroque style with elements of Rococo for his son-in-law Joseph Bermann, as well as a villa in neo-Gothic style for Ignác Briesse and a villa built in neo-Rococo style for Hans Passinger, whose family owned the so-called Kamenný mlýn in Olomouc and the mill in Šternberk since 1875.