The Adolf Loos Interiors in Plzeň – Apartment at Bendová 10

The apartment interior that Adolf Loos created for the family of engineer Vilém Kraus is one of the most beautiful in Plzeň. However, it is not just the allure of the interior but also the deeply tragic human story of the original owners that makes the place noteworthy.

Adolf Loos ranks among the most significant figures of European architecture of the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Though he was not himself a Jew, two of his three wives, his closest friends and the great majority of his clients were of Jewish origin. Among the latter was the Plzeň engineer Vilém Kraus. Loos created a wonderful interior – dominated by a salon with a fireplace and a mirrored wall creating an infinite space effect – for the Kraus family in the years 1930–1931. The family’s history is extremely tragic. In 1939 Kraus left for England in order to set things up for the family as they fled Nazism. However, his wife and children did not manage to emigrate in time and ended up in the death camps. Knowledge of this tragedy intensifies the impression made by the unique exhibition at Bendová 10.