A brief history of Český rozhlas SEVER (Czech Radio NORTH)

Carl Georg Wolfrum had his palatial villa at 10 Na Schodech Street built between 1887 and 1910 according to a design by the Vienna studio of Hans Miksch. The Art Nouveau building has an irregular ground plan. It is situated in a large garden on a relatively steep south-facing hillside, north of the city centre. In the 1890s, Carl Wolfrum's son also had a villa built in the neighbourhood (today it is the North-Bohemian Research Library).

The salient feature of Wolfrum's villa is the central hall. The linings of walls, doorframes, and above-door lintels, formed using colourful top-quality interior stucco, are remarkable. Eccentrically positioned columns with ionic-style capitals divide the hall space into a section with a cross vault, which leads to the main staircase, and the main part of the hall with stucco caissons on the ceiling. On the wall opposite, there is a fireplace (rebuilt in the 1930s) with an interesting cornice of red marble. Above the fireplace, there is a picture of the ruins of Vrabinec Castle near Děčín by an unknown artist. A door in the right section of the hall leads to the former men's salon with a beautiful coffered, inlaid ceiling. This room used to house a library and a numismatic collection. Another door, to the right of the fireplace, takes you from the hall to a light "rococo" room - a women's salon. On the ceiling there is a remarkable fresco of infant cupids playing. There is a door on the left side of the fireplace, too. It leads to the living room with an oriel of three windows. An indoor garden with a decorated coffered ceiling is accessible from the living room. In the left section of the hall, there is a door leading to the dining room with a lavishly carved and gilded coffered ceiling. Yet another door on the left takes you to the servants' staircase and the kitchen, adjoining the dining room. On the ground floor there is also a toilet, with original floral-tile decoration.

Interiér budovy

The staircase to the first floor is made of white marble and decorated with a metal handrail. On the staircase landing between the ground and first floors, there is a lattice window with decorated glass, depicting a mountain landscape and little mauve roses.

In the ceiling of the hall in the first floor, there is a lattice skylight with decorated glass. An octagonal table originating from the original contents of the house stands in the hall. On the right side of the hall, there are two guest rooms. A children's playroom and the villa-owner's study with a balcony are situated opposite the staircase. The windows of these rooms overlook the city, Střekov Castle and the River Elbe. It is one of the most beautiful panoramas of Ústí nad Labem. Adjoining the study is a veranda, originally roofless. The main bedroom as well as the children's bedroom with an attached bathroom are also accessed from the first-floor hall.

The large south facing garden, or rather a small English park, which surrounds the villa is well worth exploring, too. Many broadleaved trees, now a hundred years old, were planted in it. In the northern part of the garden, there is a grotto, originally with a small cascade of water falling into a pool surrounded by stone seats on the edges. A bronze statue of Bacchus sitting on a leopard, situated in front of the garden access point with steps, decorates the southern section of the garden. The statue was made by the sculptor and carver Karel Weinberger.

Carl Georg Wolfrum (1813-1888) came from a Protestant background in Hof, Germany. He worked his way up from a poor family background and became one of the most eminent businessmen in Ústí nad Labem. He founded a dye-works in the city and converted it into a weaving mill in 1876. From 1865 to 1874, he headed the district council. In 1871, when Count Albert Nostic died, Carl became president of the Ústí-Teplice railway. Aussiger Anzeiger, the local newspaper he founded in 1857, was of fundamental importance to the city. Later in life, he withdrew from political and social spheres. After his death, his sons followed in his business footsteps. In 1877 they established a major business, Bankovní závod L. Wolfrum a spol. (L. Wolfrum And Co. Bank Business) and gradually took over the local distilleries, yeast factories, and liqueur plants in Krásné Březno, Ústí, and Teplice, and the brewery in Velké Březno. No less important was their financial participation in the chemicals industry (Gehe plant in Ústí) and the insurance sector (Union insurance company in Prague).