Villa Lug ins Land

The Villa Lug ins Land stands in the Steiermark village of Laßnitzhöhe, beside the main road through the Sturmannvillen quarter. Built in 1905 for the Mlekus family of Graz liqueur-makers, it was designed by Adalbert Pasdirek-Coreno. The house is white-washed, with boldly coloured interiors and a flat roof that doubles as a terrace.

Its architecture sets it apart from the altdeutsch villas around it. The 1930s northern extension and the original park with its water basin survive. Early experiments with a walkable roof place the villa among Austria’s first flat-roofed homes, predating Adolf Loos’s famous designs. Inside, Jugendstil fittings once echoed the cubist furniture of Loos and Otto Wagner.

A separate bathhouse and service wing sit on the plot. The garden once held a pool fed by the Laßnitz stream. Though the villa’s interior fittings have mostly vanished, the building remains a clear statement of early modernist style in the region.