Villas of Zlín personalities

The construction of villas in Zlín has an important position within the architectural development of the city. The small group of modern, individualised villas provides an important testimony to the events in the corporate city, which is otherwise characterised mainly by neighbourhoods of workers' houses.

One of the first examples of exclusive dwelling is the villa of the entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa himself, built by architect Jan Kotěra between 1909 and 1911. The villa for his half-brother Jan Antonín Baťa is a perfect example of a villa combining the economy of Baťa's architecture with Kotěra's modernism. Another important group of villas is those known as the director's villas, which are among the most important examples of luxurious living in the late 1930s. Villas commissioned by the directors and managers of the Baťa company stand mostly on the outskirts of the town, on large plots of land near the forest. Their author, architect Vladimír Karfík, drew on his experience from his travels abroad, especially from his American practice with Frank Lloyd Wright. The villas are an experiment, drawing on both historical and contemporary tendencies. The route ends with three villas by architect Zdeněk Plesník, created in the 1950s for travellers Miroslav Zikmund and Jiří Hanzelka, and composer Zdeněk Liška. These examples, with their spatial and material generosity, close the phase of villa construction.