History of Construction

In 1928, the Müllers purchased a plot of land in Prague 6- Střešovice. For a design for their villa, they contacted, through the Plzeň architect Karel Lhota, the well-known Viennese architect Adolf Loos. In October 1928, Dr. Müller concluded a contract with both architects, Loos and Lhot; in November of the same year he requested a building permit. The issuing of the permit was accompanied by a great deal of difficulty: negotiations dragged on, with many objections being given. Even though the main reasons for the long discussions were primarily of a technical character, a few objections were based on the architecture (e.g. that the villa would exceed its surroundings in height), or occasionally even purely aesthetic grounds (that the excessively smooth facade would contrast too jarringly with the villas nearby). As late as April 1929, the town council ruled that no permit would be issued, even though the firm of Müller-Kapsa, entrusted with project realisation, had already begun the initial construction.

Dr. Müller repeatedly appealed the refusal of the building permit. His difficulties in negotiations with public offices became a matter of common knowledge once the Prague German-language newspaper Prager Tagblatt published an article entitled 'Prague versus Loos' – at the time when the appeal of Dr. Müller was already being discussed by the Regional Authority. In the end, after all of the objections had been argued, the permit was issued to Dr. Müller in June of 1929.