vila U Rýdlů Villa

The Villa U Rýdla in Dobruška is a one-storey building with a mansard from 1918-1919, designed by a major architect Jan Kotěra. It belongs to the most important monuments of the city and the entire district of Rychnov nad Knežnou. It represents modern urban architecture in the spirit of national style with folk motives.

The building was built in a New Town suburb near the Brtevsky creek as a replacement for an earlier house, which probably came from the period after the great fire of the city in 1806. The first owner and investor was Václav Rýdl mladší, son of the local hotel and merchant. In 1908, the F. V. Heka department store took over his father's business in F. L. Age. He later, in the years 1917-1918, had Jan Kotěra under his leadership made the Art Nouveau and increased. Jan Laichter, a local publisher and a friend of an architect who was also brother-in-law of Václav Rýdla, helped to implement the villa. The project was completed in January 1918 and the construction itself took place in 1918-1919.

The architecture of the building is based on a national style in the spirit of folk neoclassicism with significant Art Nouveau elements. The inspiration was folk architecture, which is also evident for other Kotor works (for example in Solnice) with reference to the creation of Dusan Jurkovic. The building has a rectangular plan and combines modern functional housing with historical details. The exterior is decorated with stylized chimneys, a boulder with a poppy, a counter skylight and a balcony with carved wooden railing under the shield of the south facade. The entrance to the building consists of a decorative portal in the style of Moravian bathrobe.

The western facade is dominated by a risalite with a dining room and a loggia supported by two massive columns, oriented towards the garden. The building is complemented by a period shed, passage and originally fenced garden with walking paths. The significant element is two fold boards with inscriptions. There is a text on the southern shield reminiscent of the period of construction: "In the birth of conception - in the freedom of shelter, I lift a new shield to the free homeland 1918-1919." The northern part bears the inscription, "What I wish for, I give to others: peace and peace to me, peace and peace to you." Lodz is further supplemented by the words: "As you see me here, I am a Czech home simple, if you are looking for it, you are welcome my guests." The interior includes an old Bohemian skylight with tiled stove, folklore paintings and ornaments of a southern European character.

The villa served as a family residence of Rýdlo until the death of Václav Rýdl younger in 1937. Until 1955, when his wife Anna Rýdlová died, the ground floor was used as a gendarmerie apartment. Then half of the building belonged to the Pesharov family. In the 1970s, the Villa was taken over by the Municipal National Committee, and since 1985 it has been based in the Senior Club, later the Senior Club.

Since 1992 the building has been protected as a cultural monument and is part of the City Monument Zone Dobruška. In the years 2010- 2014 she underwent a comprehensive reconstruction, in which the facade, windows, roof and basement space were restored. There was also a restaurant of paintings and inscriptions and a garden with a new pergola was rehabilitated. In 2014 new pavements and roadways were built in Novoměstská street in the vicinity of the villa.

At the same time, the villa is owned by the town of Dobruška. The ground floor serves as a community centre and federal house for interest associations, non-Catholic churches and the Senior Club. The National Museum Dobruška provides management of the building since 2013. The first floor includes a permanent exhibition of Military Geography, which was created in cooperation with the Military Geographic and Hydrometeorological Office on the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Geographic Service.

The Villa U Rýdla represents a unique combination of modernism and national tradition in the architecture of the early 20th century. Its preserved state and detailed design make it an important goal for every interested person in the Czech architecture and history of the region. The visit offers insight into the aesthetics of the period of creation of the independent Czechoslovakia.