About the site
The Union of Czech Agricultural Cooperatives in Silesia was founded in April 1901 to promote the region’s economic development by supporting its members. Membership was open primarily to agricultural cooperatives, though private individuals could also join. Until 1924, the Union was led by the Opava lawyer JUDr. Antonín Mlčoch. The Union facilitated the sale of members’ produce – chiefly grain – and the purchase of essential commodities, while also promoting education and outreach through expert advice, lectures, and accountancy courses. It also acted as a savings and credit cooperative. The Union’s first headquarters were in the Rolsberg Palace at Tyršova Street 3; between 1911 and 1920 it was based in Olbrichova Street, and thereafter in the Beyer Villa at Hradecká Street 1.
In addition to its elected board, the Union maintained a clerical staff. In 1922, it commissioned the Opava builder Julius Vysloužil to design and construct a residential building. The site, in a newly developing residential quarter on Kylešovský Hill, was acquired from the expropriated and subdivided Liechtenstein estate. The house was erected in what was then Pavla Křížkovského Street (now Gudrichova Street), alongside contemporary housing for civil servants.
Designed in a style of classicising decorativism, the building has a symmetrical composition. The street façade is centred on a pronounced central projection with polygonal bay windows supported by fluted pilasters. The garden elevation is marked by a massive seven-bay dormer with a heightened central portion illuminating the attic flats. The composition is crowned by a steep hipped roof. The interior plan is symmetrical, with a central corridor and staircase flanked by flats. Each has an enclosed balcony illuminated by large, segment-headed openings (originally unglazed). A romantic character is imparted by the stucco decoration of the façades, featuring vases and putti.
The building has the character of a villa and it aligns with the surrounding detached houses. Later alterations included glazing the balconies, inserting new attic windows in the gable, modifying the bay roofs to accommodate polygonal bays, and adding a roof terrace facing the garden. Of the original boundary, the brick piers survive, while the wooden fence panels have been replaced.
RR
