The house with a built-up area of 200 m2 is
situated in a sloping garden ten times its size. From the north
and partly from the west, the garden is delimited by a public
road, from the southwest and from the south by a sports field and
school yard, and on the eastern side by the house.
The
building is situated on the corner of Fibichova Street and a
supply cul-de-sac, formerly Telečská Street. The area behind the
city walls underwent major changes in the past. The former
Panenské předměstí suburb was established west of the city
centre in 1510. In the 17th century, during the Thirty Years’
War, all Jihlava’s suburbs were destroyed due to repeated siege.
At the time, Jihlava was fortified. After the fortification
disappeared in 1755, the area was gradually filled with buildings.
Fibichova Street emerged along the outer edge of the disappearing
fortification. Initially, it bore the characteristic name of
Frauengraben (Panenský příkop). It was later renamed Höckgasse,
and then was referred to as Příkopy again until the 1930s. The
primary buildings from around 1800, depicted in older vedutas,
have been preserved on the opposite side of the street. The
original route on the site was Telečská Street, which together
with what is now Fibichova Street, delimited a trapezial area with
large gardens. The existing garden area of Inderka’s villa was
delimited from a larger area shortly before construction in 1924.
The surrounding area mainly changed at the end of the 1960s as a
result of the construction of the inner ring road and extension of
Hradební Street, demolition of houses on Telečská Street
and construction of the primary school (from 1972) and the corner
Globus building (1968–1974). The crossroads of Žižkova,
Fibichova and Seifertova Streets was formerly called náměstí
sv. Jana square.
The rectangular floor plan of Inderka’s villa is extended by avant-corps on the south and north sides, and by a garage and terrace on the south side. The villa has four floors, which look different from each side, and which only reach their full height when facing the garden. As seen from the garden, the appearance of the ground floor is highlighted by a wide terrace. The upstairs floor, as seen from the street and from the garden, is covered by the roof overlap. The structure of the house is topped with an extended carinated roof with hipped sides. The attic from the north and east side is illuminated by ox-eye dormers. The main entrance is accentuated by an avant-corps protruding above the lowered roof level. The motif of the protruding avant-corps is repeated on the other side of the house as well. The west frontage is enriched with an oriel window with a segmental floor plan. The roof is covered with plain tiles. The villa has a plastered facade; the sculpted décor is limited to the low relief around the windows and at the level of the roof mouldings in particular. It becomes more distinctive with the corner pilasters, which seem to elevate the high arched roof. The west frontage is complemented by a shallow niche.
The house is accessible through a semicircular double door opening to the outside, featuring glazed cassettes and protected by a decorative grille. The entranceway is protected by a small roof supported by decorative metal brackets. The large six-paned window above the entrance is decorated with stained glass on the inside. All the original windows in the building are casement windows. They are usually divided into smaller panes by a decorative mullion and characteristic transoms. The door to the terrace over the garage probably dates back to 1932 and has an atypical cabinet construction.
The villa is made of brick, using classic bricks, probably complemented by Eckert-system cavity walls, which were modern at the time. The ceiling in the cellar is made of concrete, with wood used in the other rooms. The truss has a Zollbau-type construction made of wooden slats.
The central area of the house consists of the stair hall, accessible through the main door. The staircase is U-shaped and made of wood and has a decorative balustrade with carved balusters. The stairway area features wooden panelling at the sill level, and the stairs are covered with PVC. The staircase is illuminated by a large window with stained glass set in lead strips. From the hall, to the right are the original reception rooms. These included the gentlemen’s room, the drawing room and straight on to the largest space – the former dining room. A maid’s room, kitchen and larder are adjacent to the hall on the left side. Next to the staircase, the designer placed a toilet. Upstairs, we can find children’s rooms on the right side, bedrooms in the middle and on the left facing the garden, and a guest room on the far left. There was a kitchen, boiler room and ironing room in the cellar. The original surfaces and panelling have survived in the house. This includes the parquet flooring and the framed doors, with a typical decorative detail on the cassette edges. The handles and doorplates are contemporary, while the windows are original, dating back to the 1920s, except for the terrace windows and doors. The fittings and small handles are original, too. Not many of the furnishings have been preserved due to changes in use. The loft is accessible through a metal fire door, while the lamellar truss is original. The garage and the space in the south-east corner were later additions to the villa. In the past, the garden was dominated by a central roundel with a flower bed, which was removed in 1947.
The family home located at Höckgasse (Příkopy) 2 was built according to the designs drawn up by the Jihlava builder Emanuel Lang for the Jihlava pharmacist Dr. PhMr. Richard Inderka, his wife, Margaret, and their children from 1925–1926. Inderka (born 1881) was the son of the pharmacist and Jihlava mayor (1904–1918) Vinzenz Inderka. The location of the building line was confirmed by the Building Authority in December 1924. The first officially approved designs of the house come from the same period. Probably by mistake, the designer wrote the year 1925 on them. The original design envisaged a high hipped roof. In May 1925, the Building Authority evaluated the final drawing with modifications. The unusual lamellar structure, supplied by the Viennese company Oikos, was selected at the time of the commencement of the construction. Oikos was a licensed supplier of the Zollbau-type truss, developed by engineer Fritz Zollinger in Merseburg, Germany. In Jihlava, it was used once more, two years later, in the construction of a grain silo on Chlumova Street. Otherwise, it occurs rarely, mainly in the German speaking area of Sudeten, as well as in Prague and Brno. The unusual character of the structure is also proved by the confirmation of the Building Authority, which recommends that local workers should be taught “these strange tasks (…) as the local joiners are not trained in such work”, as well as by a separate drawing with a structural stability calculation.
An interesting technical fact that was shown in the final designs is the method of brickwork, which made the intended walls narrower by seven centimetres. Based on the selected Eckert system, the brickwork was made with cavities. This was supposed to save material, while maintaining the insulating properties. The system was developed in Germany and licensed by an engineering company from Opava. The project was also supposed to include the construction of pavements and fence walls, and lower walls with posts and weaving along Fibichova Street, and a brick wall along Telečská Street. The low wall and pavements were only built along Fibichova Street. The house was officially approved in June 1926.
In 1932, the original owner sold the house to the Jihlava manufacturer Hans Seidner (born 1900), descended from the family of the Jewish businessman Emil Seidner, founder of the successful textile factory Emil Seidner & Co. In 1932, he decided to modify the house. He commissioned the Jihlava master bricklayer Heinrich Koutný. According to the designs submitted, Seidner intended to construct a new garage with an access road from Telečská Street, use the garage roof as a terrace and adjust the original drawing room accordingly – extending its space at the expense of the former gentlemen’s room by demolishing the central partition. As part of the modifications of the new access road, a pavement and enclosure wall were to be added. Given the current condition, the extent of the construction work on the terrace by 1933 is not entirely clear. In 1937, Seidner reported that he had repaired the terrace. He failed to complete the enclosure wall by 1938, as he submitted a project for its new construction to the Building Authority at that time. On 31st March 1938, the family deregistered the house as their residence and moved to Brno, and from there they emigrated to England shortly after that. After 1948, they moved to the USA.
In 1951, Construction Enterprises of the Regional City of Jihlava (Stavební podniky krajského města Jihlavy) company decided to repair the brick enclosure wall and add an entrance gate from Telečská Street. From 1965–1966, when the nursing institute was based there, the boilerman’s basement flat was renovated and expanded under the existing terrace. The direct entrance from the garden to the basement under the terrace was not added until later. The current enclosure of the property along the streets dates back to 1967.
The house/villa and its garden is situated in a historically specific environment, right behind the fortified border of the city centre. The preservation of the extensive garden is directly linked to the otherwise lost tradition of the place, demonstrably dating back to the 18th century, but gradually completely vanished. Together with the estate, typical development of ownership and various methods of use, the house testifies to the development over the last 100 years, with original valuable elements surviving to a large extent, including artistic and artisanal details. The large building with an atypical roof shape, high avant-corps and crown cornices of different heights was skilfully incorporated into the sloping ground. The combination of contextual approach and technical innovation, represented by the elegant and economical structure of the lamellar truss and cavity brickwork speaks volumes for its time and place.
JN
