Villa Münz
The Villa Münz (also Villa Emma, as labeled on the facade) in Ičići is one of the most magnificent villas on the Liburnian Riviera near Opatija , but is currently in an extremely neglected condition. The living area of 1,200 square meters includes 10 rooms and the property has a size of 5,000 square meters.
history
The landmark building above today's Ičići marina and the Kaiser-Franz-Promenade was built in 1903 for Jakob Ludwig Münz, a building contractor and quarry owner. Major contributions to the design came from his wife Emma, a native of Slovenia, who also owned and named the villa. Münz (1853–1930) was the builder of the Grand Hotel in Pula and the initiator of the road construction from Rijeka to Pula. He worked as a partner of Alfred Wrede and became a concessionaire with him for the electric tram that connected Matulji with Opatija and Lovran from 1908 to 1933 .
The villa survived the war undamaged, was nationalized in 1948 and initially served as a rest home for the union, later as a lung sanatorium for children. As reparation payments for this magnificent structure, the owners were paid twelve oranges freight cars. After the war in Yugoslavia, the building was used as a refugee accommodation and experienced severe decline.
It was finally sold in 1999 by the city of Opatija to the Croatian-American couple Hopper for a rumored 3 million DM. As a result of bureaucratic obstacles to the repair and the divorce of the owner couple, the building has fallen sharply. It was reportedly sold by the woman for around eleven million euros in 2016. However, there was also a legal dispute about the ownership structure between the municipality and the state about this building, in which Opatija could reverse the original sale.
Web links
- Slide show of this object as it looks today ( memento from July 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- Tourist-historical document
Coordinates: 45 ° 18 ′ 56.6 ″ N , 14 ° 17 ′ 23.9 ″ E