The Urbanist: Tall Stories 496

Villa Beer – A Modernist Monument in Vienna

Date: February 16, 2026
Host: Andrew Tuck
Guests/Voices: Alexei Korolev (reporter), Katharina Eckart (managing director, Villa Beer)

Overview

This episode of Tall Stories takes listeners on a journey to Villa Beer, a newly restored, key example of Viennese modernism located in the upscale residential district of western Vienna. Built by Joseph Frank and Oskar Vlach in 1929-1930, the house is celebrated for its distinct approach to modernist principles—prioritizing comfort, color, and human needs over functionalist dogma. The episode explores the villa’s architectural significance, turbulent family history, and its contemporary resurrection as a public site for research and cultural events, after a five-year, €10 million restoration.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Joseph Frank’s Philosophy and the Spirit of Villa Beer

• The villa exemplifies Frank’s more humanistic, flexible alternative to rigid modernism.
• Quoting Frank:

  "Architecture is a permanent fight for room and time, meaning that it's a fight for gaining back some comfortable space for us, a space where we can relax and where we can reconnect to nature."
  (B, 00:52)

• Frank’s orientation is inward: Focused on interior comfort rather than exterior representation.
• The villa’s design stands in contrast to contemporaries like Mies van der Rohe, eschewing expensive materials and strict functionalism for practicality and comfort.
  • “You wouldn't find any marble or very expensive materials in this house. Compared to Mies van der Rohe, who was building at the exact same time Villa Tugendhat, this is a completely different approach in that respect.”
    (B, 01:36)

2. Modernism—Frank vs. Bauhaus

• The episode unpacks how Villa Beer is modernist, but not in the Bauhaus/Mies van der Rohe style:
  • “Modern German architecture may be objective, practical, principally correct, often even attractive, but it remains lifeless.”
    (C quoting Frank, 02:17)
• Frank’s ethos prioritized ‘injecting life’ into architecture, textiles, and furniture. He designed around 200 fabric patterns, advocating for the use of color and pattern as essential to comfort.

3. Role of Textiles and Interior Space

• Katharina Eckart details Frank’s enduring textile designs, still produced by Svenskt Tenn in Sweden.
  • “Colors and patterns calm the mind. It makes you feel comfortable. Everything that you can see here is Joseph Frank's designs, how you can buy them today and how they are still produced by hand by Svenskt Tenn in a very high quality today.”
    (B, 02:44)
• The current restoration left much of the home unfurnished to allow reflection and respect for the villa’s complex past.
  • “We didn't reconstruct historic furniture … because we wanted to leave the spaces empty. Also for reflection and to tell the story of the family."
    (B, 03:34)

4. Historical Layers and Family Story

• The villa was commissioned by the Baer family—wealthy, Jewish entrepreneurs whose fate was profoundly affected by Austria’s annexation by Nazi Germany. They emigrated, but their youngest daughter, Elisabeth, was murdered in the Holocaust.
• The villa changed hands multiple times before being acquired by a foundation in 2021.

5. Modern Use of Villa Beer & Opening to Public

• The villa is now operated as a research hub and guesthouse, with renovated top-floor rooms primarily available to architectural researchers, but also bookable by others.
  • “The intention is also to open the house to further extend the research on Joseph Frank, on Viennese modernism, on his companion Oskar Vlach. … We also want to enable people to really live here and to experience living in a modern house of the 1930s.”
    (B, 05:17)
• From March 8, Villa Beer will open for guided tours, concerts, readings, and discussions—“All of it, as Frank might have approved, intended to fill the house with life once again.”
  (C, 05:54)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Joseph Frank’s architectural ethos:

  “One can use everything that can be used.”
  (C quoting Frank, 01:14)

• Contrast with mainstream modernism:

  “For him, it was more about the inside and not so much about the outside, not about representation, much more about how do you feel as a person."
  (B, 01:23)

• The purpose of leaving rooms empty:

  “We didn't want to act as if nothing had happened.”
  (B, 03:46)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09 – Introduction to Villa Beer and its restoration.
• 00:52 – Frank’s design philosophy; architecture as “fight for room and time.”
• 01:19 – Frank’s openness versus functionalist dogma; focus on comfort.
• 02:17 – Frank’s critique of German functionalism; injecting life into architecture.
• 02:44 – Role of color, pattern, and textile in the villa.
• 03:59 – History of the Baer family and changes of ownership.
• 05:17 – The villa’s function today: research, living space, public engagement.
• 05:54 – Announcement of Villa Beer’s opening and programming.

Tone & Language

The episode maintains a respectful, inquisitive tone, drawing out the personal and historical dimensions of Villa Beer while celebrating its renewed role in Vienna’s cultural landscape. The voice of Katharina Eckart adds warmth and insight, emphasizing the villa’s continuing legacy as a place for research, living, and lively experience rather than static memorialization.

For further details or to plan a visit, listeners are encouraged to look up Villa Beer’s new public programming beginning March 8, 2026.