The Villa was built for himself and his wife Milada by the important Bohemian construction entrepreneur Ing. Dr. František Müller. He was the co-owner of the major Czech building firm Kapsa & Müller, founded in Plzeň (Pilsen) in 1870 by his and his partner's fathers; the company specialised in reinforced concrete industrial, transport and water-related structures and public buildings, initially in Pilsen and later also in Prague, Mladá Boleslav and elsewhere, and often employed new approaches to construction and new technical methods. At the recommendation of the architect Karel Lhota Dr. M?ller entrusted the design of the villa, with its major representative function, to Adolf Loos, with whom Lhota had worked on several of the latter's commissions in Pilsen. Given Loos' state of health, Lhota also assisted in the realisation of this project, particularly in drawing up the spatial design, as is attested by a surviving contract on clarifying the co-authorship between Loos and Lhota.

Adolf Loos himself designed the interiors, including the light fittings, the fitted and some of the non-fitted furniture. He himself said of the house that it was his most beautiful, and spent his 60th birthday there in the company of a close circle of friends. It was here that he was most perfectly able to embody the ideas of his 'Raumplan'. The severity of the external facade, composed with a refined balance in the asymmetric symmetry of the window apertures, contrasts with the noble elegance of the interiors, even in the ostensibly secondary spaces. The design of the garden was a collaboration between Loos and the German landscape architects Camillo Schneider, Karl Fürster and Hermann Matern.

Nationalisation after 1948 had a decisive impact of the fate of M?ller family. A critical period began in this history of Kapsa & Müller, and also in that of the M?ller Villa, with - after the death of Frantiźek M?ller (1951) - the desperate attempts of Milada Mülllerová and a range of leading figures to save this important architectural monument. The widow was callously confined to a small apartment within the Villa, and the other rooms became offices for other users. The alterations which were carried out within the house in this connection often caused unnecessary damage. On the hand, somewhat paradoxically, the changes in use also led to the monument surviving in an exceptionally well-preserved state.

After the fall of the Communist government the M?ller Villa was returned on the basis of the restitution laws to its builder's daughter, Eva, who subsequently offered it for sale. A media campaign began against the private sale of the Müller Villa to a controversial financier. Thanks to the intervention of the City Council, foreign activists and the local government in Prague 6, the Müller Villa was eventually purchased by the City of Prague. In June 1995 it was then placed under the care of the City of Prague Museum, and was subsequently proclaimed a National Cultural Monument. An extensive reconstruction of the Villa was undertaken in 1998-2000, and on May 24th 2000 the exposition and the Adolf Loos Study and Documentation Centre were formally opened to the public.


Calendar

1928
Sept. 14th Dr. Müller purchases a building plot between the streets Nad hradním vodojemem and Střešovická in Prague-Střešovice
Sept. 30th A contract for the drawing up of plans for the villa is sent to both architects
Nov. 20th Dr. Müller applies for a building permit
Dec. 11th the first investigative commission opens with the condition that the plans will be expanded and it will then continue
Dec. 18th the Regulatory Office issues a position statement in opposition to the building
Dec. 28th building work begins despite the incomplete building permit

1929
Jan. 8th the first investigative commission of the Building Office concludes its work
Jan. 28th the second investigative commission opens to resolve regulatory problems. On the same day, Dr. Müller sends modified plans to the City Council.
Feb. 15th the second investigative commission concludes with the condition that a public stair be built along the north-western side of the plot.
Feb. 19th a further position statement in opposition issued by the Regulatory Office
Feb. 20th the Building Office instructs that work be halted until a legal building permit be issued
March 1st the City Building Commission and City Council meet, and issue a decision that the project be amended in line with the demands of the Regulatory Office
March 16th amended plans for the plot and southern facade sent to the Building Office
April 19th building permit rejected by the City Council
April 26th Dr. Müller appeals to the Provincial Court
June 14th the Provincial Council decides to issue a building permit
June 21st building permit issued on the basis of the revised plans by the City Building Office
July shell completed
Sept. 5th date of
a garden design by Camillo Schneider
Nov. 12th building permit issued for fencing the villa
Nov. 12th building permit issued for the personal and kitchen elevators
Dec. 10th plumbing and sewage fittings within the Villa approved

1930
March 4th Dr. Müller advises that the building is complete
April 5th the Occupancy Commission of the City Council meets, and the building including several changes is approved for occupancy. The house is given the street number 14 and the plot number 642.
May 30th both elevators approved for use

Oct 1931 - Jan. 1932 New garden designs drawn up by Karl F?rster from Potsdam.

1945 the Müller family use 3/8 of the house to cover part of a 'millionaire tax'.

1948 the villa becomes a "tenement", i.e. remains formally in the possession of the original owners, who, however, may not use the building fully nor decide on its lessees

1955
March 15th the Third Industrial Section of the District National Council for Prague 5 decides that part of the Villa space should be used by the Museum of Applied Arts
Aug. 12th the Financial Section of the District National Council for Prague 5 decides on the transfer of the building into the ownership of the Socialist sector.
1959
Dec. 8th the space is divided between the National Gallery and the State Pedagogical Press

1968
Autumn after the death of Milada Müllerová the most important parts of the Villa fittings and collections were purchased by the Museum of Applied Arts and the National Gallery
Oct. 15th the Villa is pronounced a Cultural Monument of the Czechoslovak Republic

1976
March 12th the villa is made over for the use of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, and the archive of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party is installed here

1989 after the events of November the archives of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party are cleared out, and 5/8 of the building is returned to Müller's daughter Eva Maternová

1995 the City of Prague purchases 5/8 of the Villa from Eva Maternˇ and the remaining 3/8 is transferred from the ownership of the the Prague 6 Borough. The building is subsequently transferred to the care of the City of Prague Museum.
Aug. 16th the Müller Villa is proclaimed a National Cultural Monument

1998
Nov. 23rd restoration of the Villa begins

2000
May 12th occupancy approval granted for the building
May 24th the permanent exhibition and Adolf Loos Study Centre within the Villa are formally opened