bg Karlovy Vary

Mermaid House

- Stará Louka 6 -
The construction of the current four-story building, which also bore the names Two Mermaids or At the Two Mermaids, started in 1887 and was completed in 1889. On the plot, an old building used to stand with the name Stöhr, which was mentioned as early as 1756. After a devastating in the town in May 1759, the building was rebuilt the same year. Prince Alexander de Kourrackin lent the house a shield with his coat of arms.
The building that used to stand on the plot in 1880
In 1867, the private museum of the glass engraver Anton Pittroff, born in 1835, an enthusiastic collector of objects and curiosities of all kinds, was opened here. His collections later formed the basis of the Karlovy Vary Museum fund. He started his collection in 1854, which contained old prints and manuscripts, but mainly contemporary literature about Karlovy Vary. The construction of the current building was commissioned by Marie Pittroff, for who a project was drawn up in October 1887 by the Karlovy Vary builder Konrad Eckle.
Anton Pittroff
The , which are placed on the corners of the Neo-Renaissance building, are supported by two massive . A dome containing four small dormers is placed on top of the turret, and a finial, to which and a are attached, is placed on top of these domes. Around the same height, you can see various dormers in which one or two and a pointed are placed. Some of the pointed pediments that are used to decorate the building, feature a decorative shell, while underneath the and straight pediments on the fourth floor, you can see and . The fourth and third floor windows are either flanked by , columns, or , which are either topped with an Ionic or a Corinthian . The ornamentation above the third floor windows consists of a surrounded by foliage, while above the second floor windows, you can either see another decorative shell or a keystone adorned with a . A with incorporated is placed underneath the third floor windows, one of which is supported by three corbels. Underneath some of the second floor windows, you can admire two incorporated . There are all sorts of cartouches present, one of which is placed within a sculptural composition of which two sculptures depicting mermaids are part.
An old postcard from 1912 in which the building is visible