Mr and Mrs Matějka’s Villa

After 1900, the city regulatory plans already included the streets behind the first ring road copying the star-plan of the former fortress and dedicated to residential buildings. Shortly before WWI, first houses were built in Na Příkopech (now Hradební) Street, first in the LX block; most villas were built in the LXI block between the wars. These included the villa owned by František and Anna Matějka. The couple approached the local architect and builder František Machač in 1932. He designed the project in the same year, but the construction did not begin until 1934.

The villa with a cellar had a laundry room, a large fuel warehouse, a food cellar, a special fruit cellar and a cellar for “fermenting food” in the basement, and the caretaker’s flat with a room, a kitchen, a toilet and a separate pantry and a small cellar. In the north, there was a garage facing the garden. The basement was accessible by a staircase in the house and a garden staircase. The elevated ground floor was accessible through the entrance in the recessed stairwell and included living rooms with a large stairway hall. The hall was lined with oak; in the centre of the three-legged staircase with rounded corner landings, there was a seating area with built-in furniture. In the south of the ground floor, there was a drawing room and a living room divided with a four-piece sliding glass door. The living room had a separate access to the terrace with ten steps leading to the garden. The living room also served as a dining room connected to the kitchen in the back of the house with a feeding window. Next to the kitchen, there was a pantry, a closet, a bathroom and a maid’s room. Above the garage, there was a ground-floor storage room, accessible by separate stairs from the garage and not connected to the house. Above the garage tract, there was the first-floor roof terrace, accessible from the staircase hall. The upper floor included three large bedrooms: the parents’ bedroom, the children’s bedroom, and the guest room. The parents’ bedroom was equipped with symmetrical, white-lacquered furniture with built-in storage space on one side, next to the double bed, and a door leading to the dressing room and bathroom on the other side. The children’s room also had a sunroom. The bathroom was shared and accessible from both the parents' bedroom and the children’s room. The guest room had a balcony facing the south.

The exterior was modest. The originally brick retaining wall, designed in the project, was eventually plastered. The indoor portico with the access staircase to the main entrance is lined with light brick red oblong tiles. Originally, the terrace on the first floor was supposed to be uncovered, but eventually, it was covered with a roof facing the street, creating a loggia with a roof carried by three pillars. The hipped roof facing the street was supposed to include a triangular dormer window, but the roof is simpler than its design in the project. The windows provide ample daylight for all interiors. 

Architect Machač designed a luxurious villa in a traditional architectural style. The structure is modern, but it has no progressive elements or concept, using the traditional hip roofs, the distinct, although concisely designed crown cornice, and the broad façade strip separating the ground floor and the first floor. 

In 1948, the villa was divided into more housing units, but many original features have been preserved. The exterior is currently covered with creeper.  

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