bg Osijek

Friml Family House

- Trg Ljudevita Gaja 8 -
The construction of the two-story residential building was completed in 1903 according to the project that was created by the Croatian architect . The building was built for the Friml family, of which the bibliophile and bibliographer Oskar Friml Antunović and Valerijan Friml Antunović were part of. Oskar was born on January 22, 1871, in , and his brother Valerijan was born in Osijek, on October 2, 1888, as the sons of the Austrian officer Antun Richard Friml and Rosalija Hillebrand Drašković.

Oskar finished elementary school and junior high school in Osijek, and the trade academy in in 1889. He was a clerk in Osijek, then a co-owner of the Osijek Savings Association, and after his father's death in 1908, he took over his large estate and over time expanded it considerably. He was known and respected in Osijek for his active work in cultural, charitable, firefighting, and other societies, which he also financially supported.

Valerijan attended high school in Osijek from 1900 until 1908 and graduated in 1909 in . He received his musical education at the Conservatory in in 1910, and between 1911 and 1912 at the Academy of Music and at the Kapellnik School in . He was the choirmaster of the Croatian Academic Society called Hrvat in Prague, and an opera and operetta conductor in other countries. During the , he was the conductor of the Opera. After his return to Osijek in 1918, he taught piano, singing, and theory, and often organized piano concerts or conducted operettas in the province.
An old photo that shows the building on the right
The most striking part of the Art Nouveau building is the beautiful representations made with ceramic tiles, which are produced in the factory in . The image depicted in this part is a female figure holding a torch and surrounded by various flowers. The upper part of the main facade, which is crowned by a , features two ornamental crocodiles. The roof , unlike the cornice located between the second and first floors, is decorated with . The building contains as ornamentation many , as well as geometric shapes and floral decorations, including circles and . The latter are even used in the Ionic that crown the six . The building is also decorated with motifs that in some cases are interrupted by a and even a female .