Trmal villa: Art Nouveau with Slavic Folklore details

Trmal villa is in Strašnice, a district in south-east Prague not on the tourist trail. Trmal Villa is a must-see for lovers of architecture: a mix of Art Nouveau, English countryside architecture and Slavic folklore traditions. At first sight you may wonder if it is a villa or a country house or maybe an alpine chalet. A visit to this museum house includes seeing the ground floor rooms that open up to the garden and a very unusual stairwell for houses in central Europe. There are more rooms on the first floor, one of which can be visited. Furniture designed by Jan Kotěra, the architect who also designed the house, is also on display.

trmal villa

Trmal villa: what to see

Trmal villa is currently home to an exhibition on Kotěra’s work and domestic life at the beginning of the 20th century. The villa itself can also be visited. The rooms are quite small, making the villa more of a country house than a town house. On the ground floor are the dining room and the lounge. The kitchen and a small room for the housekeeper were next to the entrance but they are now used as offices and as a bookshop.

The design was such that private and working spaces were strictly separated by the hall with staircase, a wooden staircase with carved handrail and rural ornaments. An Art Nouveau chandelier hangs in the stairwell. On the first floor is a bedroom with a large terrace overlooking the garden.

trmal villa

The Villa and the Garden

The villa is a combination of modern comfort and functionality but with a touch of nostalgia for rural life. The garden was carefully planned and accessible from all rooms as they all had open verandas, extensions of the rooms. In later years, the verandas were closed and no longer fulfilled this open function. They form now part of the rooms.

The house, still surrounded by the original garden, now stands in a street of which the houses were built after the Second World War. This was not intended as the original design included enough space where the owner could keep farm animals.

Trmal villa and Jan Kotěra

The architect is Jan Kotěra (1871-1923), founder of modern Czech architecture. Trmal villa was built between 1902-1903 in a rural district, today’s Strasnice, which in those days was a village surrounded by fields. Along with the house, Kotěra also designed the garden with winding paths and ornamental shrubs. Next to the utility room he placed a shed for farm animals. The garden was and still is closed off from the street by a fence. The front of the villa has a rural feel with folkloristic details: exposed beams, a bay window, high chimneys, half-timbered gables and dormer windows.

trmal villa

František Trmal: the first owner

Jan Kotěra designed this villa for František Trmal, a teacher and school inspector. The house is located on the corner of Vilová Street and U Nových Street in the Strasnice district. Until 1945, it was a private house. In 1950 it became state property and was used as a music school with the result that the original furniture designed by Kotěra was lost. After the Velvet Revolution, the house fell into disrepair. The villa, renovated in 2001, is now a museum and a cultural and research centre.

Getting there

Address: Trmal Villa, U Novych vil 9, Strasnice, Prague
Open: Tuesday to Friday. Guides tour at 16.00 hours. (you are most likely the only visitor)
Public transport: metro green line A to Strasnicka

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photos: Marianne Crone

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