Locations #1

In 1906, Johan Schowanek (Schovanek) founded a small timber construction company in the small village of Jiřetín pod Bukovou. He specialized in lathed products and produced in particular wooden beads, buttons, and other small wooden parts. His house was designed by the architect Robert Hemmrich, it was a luxury villa in the centre of a large park. The marble chimneys, stained glass windows, walls inlaid with valuable woods, the coffered ceilings and many other elements still exist to this day. Noteworthy is also the winter garden, fitted with polished glass windows and marble. Renovation work in the 1930s gave the building its final, functionalist appearance. Following the company's nationalisation as a consequence of the Second World War, its production was shifted to the manufacture of piano parts. In 1993, the company was once again privatised under the new name Detoa s.r.o., and the Schowanek villa was thereafter extensively restored in 2009. It is now open to the public.