Wender·Vista
Villa Tugendhat
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileCzech Republic
on a hillside above the centre of Brno

Villa Tugendhat

— — a wall of onyx the afternoon walks through.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A 1930 house in Brno by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, built for Fritz and Greta Tugendhat on a sloping site that drops away to the old city. From the street it reads as a single low storey of white render; from the garden it opens as three storeys of glass. Inside, an onyx wall changes colour as the light moves, and a curved ebony screen wraps the dining area. UNESCO inscribed it in 2001. A careful restoration finished in 2012. from the studio

from the studio
Villa Tugendhat
— bring it home

Villa Tugendhat, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Villa Tugendhat

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Villa Tugendhat stands on Černopolní street on a hillside in the Černá Pole district of Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic. The house was designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and built between 1929 and 1930 for the newly married Fritz and Greta Tugendhat, two members of prominent local industrialist families. The site falls steeply away to the south toward the old city, so the entrance level reads as a discreet single-storey volume from the street while the garden façade opens to three full storeys of glass and steel-framed terrace.

— the stone

The main living floor is organised around two free-standing features inside one open volume. A wall of honey-coloured onyx, quarried in the Atlas Mountains and sliced into book-matched panels, separates the study from the seating area; its translucent core glows amber when low winter sun comes through the south glazing. The dining area is wrapped by a semicircular screen of Macassar ebony from south-east Asia. The south wall of the room is fully glazed, and two of its large panes retract electrically into the basement, opening the room to the garden in a way almost unprecedented in 1930 domestic building.

— the visit

The villa is owned by the City of Brno and operated as a house museum by the Brno City Museum. Visits are by guided tour only, in small timed groups, and tickets routinely sell out weeks in advance, especially for the longer tour that includes the technical basement with its original air-handling plant. UNESCO inscribed the villa on the World Heritage List in 2001 as a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture. A multi-year conservation programme, completed in 2012, restored the original finishes, fixtures, and the famous retractable glass walls.

— informed by Brno City Museum
— where
Czech Republic · Brno, South Moravian Region
— position
49.2074° N · 16.6364° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km SW
Špilberk Castle
hilltop fortress
2 km S
Cathedral of St Peter and Paul
Gothic cathedral
1 km W
Lužánky Park
city park
N
Villa Tugendhat
Špilberk Castle
Cathedral of St Peter and Paul
Lužánky Park
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Villa Tugendhat — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the German architect later director of the Bauhaus. The house was built between 1929 and 1930 for Fritz and Greta Tugendhat on a sloping site in the Černá Pole district of Brno.

UNESCO inscribed the villa in 2001 as a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture, citing its application of new spatial and aesthetic principles to domestic building.

A free-standing wall of honey-coloured onyx quarried in the Atlas Mountains and sliced into book-matched panels. It separates the study from the main living area and glows amber when low winter sun comes through the south glazing.

Yes — it is operated as a house museum by the Brno City Museum. Visits are by guided tour only, in small timed groups, and tickets often need to be booked weeks in advance.

A multi-year conservation programme completed in 2012 restored the original finishes, fixtures, and the famous south-wall glazing that retracts electrically into the basement.

On Černopolní street in the Černá Pole district, on a hillside about two kilometres north-east of Špilberk Castle and the historic centre of the city.

— about the piece in your home

Yes — Villa Tugendhat is on every modernist syllabus and is rarely available as serious art. A Medium or Large with a handwritten note from the studio carries well for an architect or design student.

The piece sits naturally in mid-century-modern interiors, in Minimalist rooms built around steel and stone, and in warmer Bauhaus-leaning spaces that already use travertine, ebony, or onyx accents.

It fits the current move toward art that names a specific building rather than an abstract grid. A single Large of Villa Tugendhat reads as a deliberate architectural reference, not generic mid-century décor.

A single Large carries the long horizontal of the garden façade well. A four-tile Mural opens the elevation; a nine-tile Mural is the choice when the wall is the room.

Yes — choose the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and handle steam and splashes, while the Glossy finish is best kept to framed wall pieces in dry rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and plain water. No abrasive sponges, no household sprays. The colour lives in the ceramic surface, so it does not fade with ordinary cleaning.

Yes. Reid Wender is the curator and eye behind every WenderVista piece. The studio works as a single family operation in Knoxville, Tennessee, with no outside licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

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