Apartment 4.5 room, City of Zagreb, Donji Grad, Donji grad

ELEGANT APARTMENT IN A HISTORIC BUILDING

This exceptional property, in a prestigious area of the city centre close to the Croatian National Theatre. It occupies the entire floor of an important building designed by the father of Croatian architecture, Viktor Kovacic. It retains all its original design and features, and has been beautifully restored.

DESCRIPTION

The apartment is located on the first floor of a three-story building. The imposing entrance hall opens into all the principal rooms, which are four metres high, spacious and beautifully proportioned. Generous double doors connect the hall to the salon and the rooms on either side of it, which have bay windows to the front – south side. These two rooms are a library-study to the right and the guest bedroom and the bathroom to the left.

To the right of the hall is the principal bedroom, which has a glazed loggia overlooking the garden. Next to it is the main bathroom which also overlooks the garden. A corridor to the left side of the entrance hall leads to a separate cloakroom, the dining room and the kitchen, which has a balcony overlooking the garden. There is a larder and utility room adjacent to the kitchen.

The present owner has restored the apartment to the highest of standards, respecting all its original joinery and other fittings and features, including a magnificent period-tiled stove in the salon. The original parquet floors were retained and new Venetian blinds were installed throughout, while modernizing and renewing the wiring and all electrical fittings, plumbing, central heating and a new heating boiler. The bathrooms were renewed and retailed. A new telephone and alarm system were installed.
An additional and useful feature to the property is a substantial cellar with a separate entrance from the garden and is tiled, it also has a lavatory and a shower.
The building is well-maintained and there is residents parking in the area.

ACCOMMODATION

Entrance hall, leading into the salon
Library study
Principal bedroom and bathroom
Guest bedroom and bathroom
Cloakroom
Dining room
Kitchen
Larder and utility room
Basement room

The property is freehold and without any encumbrances.
 

HISTORY

Victor Kovacic (1874 - 1924), often called the father of modern Croatian architecture was the architect of this and the adjoining building (Masarykova 21 and 23 respectively). They were built in for the same client during 1907th. Kovacic was noted for his ability to marry the best of historical norms to progressive principles and practice. He was a distinguished pupil of Otto Wagner and the Vienna Secession in the 1890's. In the design of these buildings, Kovacic expressed and applied the principles and doctrines of that school. Vertical composition of the façade ̶ delineated by the golden panes express elegant simplicity which is highlighted by the narrow windows in the bays. The bow convex windows of the first-floor emphasize the Belle Etage.

Kovacic used new materials in the construction of these buildings, and applied new structural engineering and fire regulations, a practice that has proved most enduring to this day.  

The house has a north-south orientation. The central staircase of the building allows the organisation of the internal space, further emphasising the modern approach linking artistic aims with practicality and convenience. The top floor, the atelier of Victor Kovacic, was the space that he took in lieu of his fee and where he lived and worked until the end of his life. His widow donated the space to the City of Zagreb and after her death it has been maintained under the auspices of the City Museum. It is open by appointment only once a week.

There is a bilingual publication of the book about the property:
Author Nada Premerl Stan arhitekta Viktora Kovacica, Masarykova 21, Zagreb; Muzej Grada Zagreba 2000. The catalogue includes drawings of the building, photographs and covers life and work of the architect.