Bauer Villa
Built in 1912–1914 after the plans of the architect Josef Gočár (1880–1945), the villa is a unique and stylistically characteristic realization of Cubist architecture. The building was commissioned by the local landowner Adolf Bauer at a time when Gočár’s most distinctive Cubist edifices were being erected – The House of the Black Madonna in Prague and a spa building in Bohdaneč. The villa served as a home for the Bauer family until 1931, in 1940 it was confiscated as Jewish property and came under German administration, and in 1948 it was nationalized. In the new millennium, the Czech Cubism Foundation took up the project of rescuing and renovating the villa and as of 2025 it is a State-owned property under the management of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. The villa’s interiors house a permanent exhibition of Cubist furniture and decorative arts objects designed chiefly by Vlastislav Hofman, Pavel Janák, Josef Gočár and Ladislav Machoň, and artefacts from the production of the Artěl artists’ cooperative.
Highlights
Czech architectural Cubism is unique in the world; nowhere else did Cubism, one of the first movements of the European avant-garde, manifest itself in applied arts and architecture as well as in painting and sculpture. The strength of the building resides in the architect's ability to combine new forms with modern construction techniques and an emphasis on function, as well as a sensitivity to the local and historical context. They therefore often feature references to Baroque and Classicist elements alongside sharp angles, broken lines, and dramatically contoured surfaces.
The Bauer Villa alludes with its mansard roof to the Baroque style of the now-demolished country mansion that stood in the vicinity of the Libodřice farmstead. Cubist-style forms were projected not only into the villa’s decorative elements (visually distinctive cornice, star-like stucco ornaments framing the windows, articulation of windows and doors), but also into the treatment of the building’s footprint and volume. These forms are strongly evident on the south façade, whose three polygonal avant-corps* give it a sense of monumentality, and on the likewise polygonal terrace attached to it. The Bauer Villa is the last realization of Gočár’s Cubist phase; in the post-war period, he and Pavel Janák experimented with Rondo-Cubism to formulate a national style.
Insider's Guide
The villa is accessible from Prague (50 km), where fans of Cubist architecture can admire, among other things, another Gočár building – the Black Madonna House, which houses a Cubist exhibition and a café with replicas of the original Cubist furnishings. In the town of Kolín, 12 km from the villa, there are architectural monuments ranging from Gothic to Functionalism, and in Kutná Hora (20 km) there is the unique Gothic Cathedral of St. Barbara, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
* A polygonal avant-corps is a projecting building element with a polygonal shape, often used in towers, bays, or chapels. Instead of a rectangular extension, it has multiple angled faces, creating a more sculptural and dynamic façade appearance