Vila továrníka Wilhelma Fuchse Villa

The Fuchs Villa in Kraslice is an Art Nouveau building from the early twentieth century. It stands to the southeast of the city center, above the left bank of the Svatavy River on Dukelská Street. Today it houses the municipal library and has been protected as a cultural monument since two thousand and twelve.

The villa was built by Kraslice factory owner Wilhelm Fuchs for himself and his family. He came from a family of renowned textile entrepreneurs. His father Johann installed the first embroidery machine in Kraslice in eighteen sixty-two. Wilhelm studied at the Prague secondary technical school and the advanced textile technical school in Brno. Together with his brothers Jan and Josef, he then took over his father's machine embroidery factory. It initially operated under the name Johann Fuchs Söhne and after merging with Josef Meindl and Ferdinand Horn as the company Fuchs, Meindl and Horn. The villa was built in close proximity to the factory at that time. It was designed by Karlovy Vary architect Otto Steinl, who had previously built the Breinl Villa in Kraslice, which was completed in nineteen oh three.

After Fuchs's death in nineteen ten, the villa passed to the company. From nineteen twenty-eight, it was owned by the Krey family. After the Second World War it was confiscated and later housed a kindergarten. In nineteen ninety-eight it underwent reconstruction and from two thousand and four it has served the library.

The building is constructed in romanticizing Art Nouveau, in the then popular Heimat style. It has been preserved in almost its original state. The substantial base of rusticated stonework gives it an ancient appearance. The villa has three stories, the uppermost in the attic. The facades are divided by numerous risalits, bay windows, balconies and loggias. The most striking features are the illusory timber framing and wooden carved structures on the gables. The central wing of the main facade has a semicircular window in the gable and is topped by a small tower with a weathervane. On the northwest corner is a polygonal bay window with a sheet metal helmet roof. A short stone staircase leads to the main entrance and the entrance is protected by a covered vestibule with three arcades.

Behind the entrance is a small hall and beyond it a stairwell room lined with wood, lit by a large window. The original plans have not survived. On the ground floor there were probably reception rooms, on the upper floor bedrooms and in the attic small rooms. The wooden staircase with carved railings has been preserved, as well as wall paneling, painted window frames, tiled stoves, stucco decoration and all the original doors. In the dining room is a ceiling imitating a coffered ceiling with a rosette in the center.