The Hannibal Rising House: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Villa Tugendhat (1930), Brno, Czech Republic
I've posted on the seductively C20 modern architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe before and seeing his 1930 Villa Tugendhat in Brno in the Czech Republic this morning for the first time on the net I couldn't resist another one.
I love his bigger scale work, like the Seagrum Building in New York ...
... and the IBM Building in Chicargo...
... but I particularly love his smaller scale work, like the Barcelona Pavilion [POST LINK] ...
Mies van der Rohe's architecture at this period was typified by opening up tradition rectangular enclosed rooms into a series of interconnected spaces flowing one into another, often with solid masonry walls dissolved by the use of glass.
Spaces were finished with lavish materials, such as rare woods, polished marble and onyx feature walls and slim elegant chromed support columns.
The Villa Tugendhat has all these features to perfection - the images don't need any more blah blah blah as they speak for themselves ...
Okay, so when are we moving in - seems plenty of room for all.
BTW, you may have a strange deja vu thing going with the interiors - they were used in 'Hannibal Rising'. Just a nice bit of trivia!
I've always loved his work...and I'm always wondered what it would be like to actually life in a house designed by him. The photos always give me a sense of peace. I wonder if that would translate, over a period of time, if one lived in the house.
ReplyDeleteI love sleek modern architecture like this! I couldn't live in it, but I love it.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I noticed you'd been closed down but neglected to save your new address when you posted it a long time ago. Thank gawd for Greg and his research so I could find you again!
Hey Nick....that Seagram's Building,is "embedded" in my brain from an art class in college. Any kind of art , is a personal decision cause right across the street , to the diagonally, is the Palmolive Building..now if I had to choose between the two, I like the Palmolive better..The Seagram is ground breaking, in the way it set back and left all that land ,which is worth???? right in front and it's public(that was kind of a first and led to every new huge building to provide space to be used by the public), the Palmolive is every part of that corner it occupies but for me it has some kind of color and definition..but I have to give it up for two of my favorite buildings in NYC..there are many more I like ..when I walk out to my pier park here and especially at night, look up see the Empire State building...it's a "hard" structure ,meant to sustain anything ,not like Seagram's , with all that glass, looks very fragile and colored glass also,VERY clean lines..no question about that...so ,I think it's a personal choice cause my friend lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright house and he hated all the 90 degree corners in that home but I adore his work, also another favorite of mine is Gaudi cause i lived in Barcelona, in one of his buildings..like DISNEY! for kids..he was a fun architect...
ReplyDeleteCheers.
Tony(NYC)
Nick: that link for Barcelona is no good
hey tony, nyc
ReplyDeletethanks for the pointer to the Palmolive Building - thought i was well versed with NY's architecture - but there are obviously blanks - so i'm off on a googling mission now!
i agree about the empire state - and the lower parts are a bit muddley - no clear easy form to grasp
and as for frank lloyd wright - my first love affair was with his Kaufmann Residence aka Falling Water - to die to live in!
I think Tony is thinking of the iconic Lever Building (a SOM-designed building) @ 53rd and Park. While I love the the Seagram Building, the Lever has always been my favorite. The Colgate-Palmolive Building is a conventional 14 story structure at 49th and Park. The more famous Palmolive Building is located in Chicago (and was renamed the Playboy Building during the bunny heydays). This building is not far from Mies van der Rohe's 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments - designated as Chicago historic landmarks.
ReplyDeleteBTW Nick, welcome back! Those Google Nazis are a pesky bunch.
hey jack
ReplyDeletegood to hear from you here
ok, i looked at the Colgate-Palmolive Building and liked rather than loved it - and yes the it seems more commonplace typical of the period - block-ish and rigid and plain - curiously it faintly reminds me of 50's buildings i saw in Moscow in the 70s - jokingly known as being in the 'wedding cake' style - those in the then USSR had a layer on somewhat Gothic ornament thrown into the mix! the uni was one example i recall
thanks for the encouragement - i pack a pretty powerful 'putsch' of my own!
best
Congratulations and thank you very much. It is a beautiful post. I totally agree about the Barcelona pavillion. :)
ReplyDeleteXXX