Katalog k výstavě

120
Kramářova vila a Hradčany,
pohled z Letenských sadů,
fotografie, před 1930. //
Kramář Villa and Prague
Castle, view from Letenské
Orchards, photograph, before
1930.
Kramářova vila a Hradčany,
pohled z Letenských sadů,
fotografie, Otakar Husák,
Praha 1930. // Kramář Villa
and Prague Castle, view
from Letenské Orchards,
photograph, Otakar Husák,
Prague 1930.
baštách v té době vznikal, nedaleko odsud
bydlel v novém nájemním bytě např. i T. G.
Masaryk s rodinou, ale umístěním ani parametry
se Kramářově vile nic nevyrovnalo.
Se stavebními pracemi se začalo ihned po
koupi pozemků. Nejprve bylo třeba zpevnit
tereziánské hradební zdi, ve kterých bylo
mnoho trhlin. Do konce roku 1911 se na
pozemku kácely stromy, vozil materiál, v listopadu
se začalo s kopáním základů. A ty
nebyly ledasjaké, vždyť vila se měla rozkládat
na 700 metrech čtverečních. Ohmannův
ried Nadezhda Nikolaevna Abrikosova, the
daughter of a rich factory owner from Moscow.
Nadezhda was the impetus behind the
decision to start realizing his construction
projects – first the construction of a summer
retreat in Barbo near Yalta in the Crimea,
soon followed by a villa in Prague and, ultimately,
the grand residence in his hometown
of Vysoké nad Jizerou.
Kramář’s opponents drew attention to his
friendly relations with his former schoolmate
and now Young Czech mayor Karel
Groš; however, there was little mention of
the fact that it was thanks to the chairman
of the rather opportunistic Young Czechs,
Karel Kramář, that the city had acquired
the Prague bastion. In the purchase agreement,
Kramář had to undertake not to build
anything more than a two-storey family villa,
with its façade facing the Vltava River to
form an impressive, dominating structure
that was aesthetically faultless and suited to
the skyline of the Hradčany (Prague Castle)
district. Everything was to be finished
within three years. The municipality held
the right of first refusal to purchase the
property, but also committed itself to provide
the villa with a water pipe, gas line, access
road, and electricity line free of charge.
While Kramář’s house was obviously not the
only one structure to be built on the site of
the former Prague fortifications at this time
(T. G. Masaryk and his family lived in a new
rented apartment nearby, for example), nothing
could match the location or magnitude of
Kramář’s villa.
When all the formalities had been sorted
out, the construction work could start. The
style in which the villa was built is still
a matter of discussion. It is essentially
a Neo-Baroque structure with numerous