The Mühle House () is a historical

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

in the

Elisabetin Elisabetin (; ) is a historic district of Timișoara. It is noted for the vast reserve of 1900s-style architecture and the multitude of parks. Also here is the university area of the city with the related buildings (student dormitories, canteens, l ...

district of

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The house belonged to the famous family of

florist Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related s ...

s Mühle. It is part of Michael the Brave Boulevard urban ensemble, listed as a

historical monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

with LMI code TM-II-a-B-06110.

History

By the mid-19th century, there was another house approximately on the site of the current building. It was built somewhere between 1866 and 1868 and purchased by Wilhelm (Vilmos) Mühle in 1878. A year after his father's death, in 1909, Árpád will obtain a building permit for a house with a garden, a building that can still be seen today. The Mühle House was designed by the Viennese architect Oskar Reinhart, and the builder was Josef Hofgärtner from Timișoara. Reinhart was related to the famous family of florists from Timișoara, his mother's

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

being Anna Mühle. The Mühle family also owned a building in the Cetate district, known to this day as the House with Flowers, due to the fact that it housed the Mühle family's shop of flowers, seeds and floral arrangements, being also the central point where they exhibited and sold their products developed in their

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

s and nurseries from the

district. Mühle had 17 greenhouses and a vast garden in Timișoara, which stretched from the

Bega Canal The Bega Canal or Begej Canal (; ) is a navigation canal of Romania and Serbia. It is the first navigation canal built on the present-day territory of Romania, and serves the city of Timișoara. Its name comes from the Bega river. It crosses the ...

to today's Nicolae Bălcescu Square. On its land are now the West University, the Politehnica University and its stadium with dormitories. After Ernst, Árpád's son, sold part of the horticultural domains, the family business declined. The last descendant to live there, Wilhelm's great-granddaughter, emigrated to Germany in 1992. Eventually, the house entered the possession of a wealthy

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

family that allowed it to fall into ruins. They intended to demolish the house in 2012. Following protests and the intervention of the city hall, a court ordered its restoration in 2016. The works began in February 2020 and were completed with delays in July 2023.

Architecture

A house with a mezzanine and a high ground floor, it was an eclectic-style building with

neo-baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

influences, punctuated by the shape of the roof and the way the entrance staircase was arranged.

References

{{PlacesTimișoara Buildings and structures in Timișoara Houses in Romania Houses completed in 1909 Historic monuments in Timiș County