Ottendorferův dům, Cultural monument in Město, Czech Republic
The Ottendorfer House is a red-brick historicist building in the German Renaissance style with an onion-domed tower, located in Svitavy. It was built in 1892 on the site of the birthplace of Valentin Oswald Ottendorfer, who initiated and fully funded the project. The original plan was prepared by New York architect William M. Schickel, and the final appearance was given by German-Brazilian architect German Wanderley from Brno.
Oswald Ottendorfer, a Svitavy native living in New York, funded the library building, which was designed by Brno architect Germano Wanderley and built in 1891–1892 on the site of Ottendorfer's birth house. It opened on 21 August 1892 with 7,400 volumes, grew to 23,000, and after World War II only about 6,000 volumes survived; a reconstruction followed in 1989–1992.
The building's red-brick German Renaissance design, with its onion-domed tower, made it a symbol of Svitavy; locals called the library "Red" for the brick colour. Since 2008 the ground floor houses the Esperanto Museum and a tea room, and the upper hall has hosted Esperantists from many countries, including EKOTUR 2009 and a 2011 Wikimania marking the 10th anniversary of the Esperanto Wikipedia.
The building stands in the centre of Svitavy and belongs to the town. The concert and lecture hall upstairs hosts ten to twelve classical concerts a year, and the Esperanto Museum with its tea room occupies the ground floor. The local Circle of Friends of Music organises the concert programme.
The building is the second-oldest in Czechia designed specifically for library use, after the one in Třeboň. Its red-brick German Renaissance design with an onion-domed tower makes it one of Svitavy's symbols, and it has housed the Esperanto Museum on the ground floor since 2008.
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