Already in the era when it was constructed, it became an icon of the Polish avant-garde architecture.

History

Barbara and Stanisław Brukalski prepared the design of their own villa after a spell in Holland in 1927, where they became familiar with the realisations of the local avant-garde, among others, Gerrit Thomas Rietveld. The construction of the building took place between 1927 and 1929. The building survived the war intact. In the years 1986-1988 the villa was renovated and redesigned according to the design of Maria and Baltazar Brukalski (based on the drawings of Stanisław Brukalski) by adding a kitchen and two rooms on the uppermost storey.

Description

The villa, located in the eastern part of the plot, adjoins the neighbouring building, also designed by the Brukalski couple. A three-storey house is surrounded on the remaining three sides with a garden featuring a collection of stone monuments. The plot is circumscribed by an openwork wall made of red brick and resting on a base. Fragments of sculptures were incorporated into the fence and walls of the building. A white, smoothly plastered front façade of the villa is animated by recesses, a small balcony on the second storey and a spacious terrace on the uppermost floor as well as an asymmetrical positioning of the window openings. A large window of the hall, running across two-storeys on the left side of the front façade, constitutes a particularly strong accentuation. Balcony railings were made of gas pipes. Other façades (rear and side) are regular and devoid of sumptuous partitioning of the front façade. They were pierced by windows arranged in a horizontal band. The side façade includes an entrance to the kitchen with a vestibule. When composing the front façade, the architects were inspired by a solution introduced by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld from Utrecht (Mrs Schroeder’s Villa, 1924), characterised by a neoplastic arrangement of contrasting openings and blocks. A central space in the Brukalski family’s villa is a two-storey hall, at the same time functioning as a living room. The architects’ studio is located on the first floor and opens towards the living room. The initial garage was transformed into a studio. Utility rooms are situated in the basement. What deserves attention is an original, oval staircase with handrails made of bamboo rods and two fireplaces: a reconstructed stove made of Hucul tiles in the hall and a sandstone fireplace adorned with a motif of the sun and SB initials in the studio.

The historic building can only be viewed from the outside.

Author of the note Wojciech Głowacki 12-02-2016

Bibliography

• M. Leśniakowska, Architektura w Warszawie 1918-1939, Warsaw 2006 (edition 3).