This villa is one of the many buildings constructed by the famous Tönnies family. Rudolf Tönnies was an architect and councillor of the Drava Banovina district and the son of the famous industrialist Gustav Tönnies. Rudolf Tönnies built this family villa for himself, his wife Pavla and his daughter Frigga.
Some historical facts about the Tönnies family:
During the period of the great social and economic change in Europe, Gustav Tönnies and his sons were among some of the most famous and respected industrialists, architects and builders of Ljubljana (from 1845 – 1936). They were one of the most economically active families who helped to create an industrial revolution in Slovenian towns and cities and made a significant contribution to the historical records which include the fact that the land of Carniola (the original name for one section of Slovenia) was ranked as one of the most developed European provinces and which also influenced the development of the cities of Trieste, Sarajevo and Zagreb.
Gustav Tönnies was born in Sweden, where he studied carpentry and worked as an apprentice in several European cities. In 1845, he was sent from Graz to Ljubljana to work on the construction of the roof of Kolizej (at the time this was one of the largest buildings in this part of Europe). Since the completed work was to an exceptionally high standard, the, then Major of Ljubljana (Nepomuk Hradetsky) offered Gustav Tönnies the position of City Carpenter. Because of this, he established his own company which soon expanded to include other aspects of the building and construction industry: - the production of various materials, machinery and a foundry which were required for the advancement of his building business.
Gustav Tönnies participated in the construction of the railway stations on the Celje – Ljubljana – Trieste route and later from Ljubljana to Treviso. He also took over the renovations and re-construction of various industrial buildings in Ljubljana which included: Madil textile factory; Cukrarna, Kozler brewery (now named Union); Tschinkel confectionary and coffee substitute factory; Tobacco factory (later named Tobačna). He also founded the factory Strojne Tovarne in Livarne Šiška and the brickery Koseze (which had the first circular furnace). Gustav Tönnies acquired the quarries in Nabrežina, Repentabru and Momjan. In Trieste, he also constructed warehouses at the port and the main railway station where the first train arrived from Ljubljana on 17th July 1857. In 1895, an earthquake struck Ljubljana and the Tönnies Company was a great asset to the rebuilding of the city supplying the much needed construction materials for the building projects in progress.
This dedicated engineer received an award from Francis Joseph on the 600th anniversary of the accession of Carniola to the Habsburg Monarchy.
The Tönnies sons continued their father’s legacy and built the court palace; a town hall; a gymnasium; Maldika; the Catholic printing house (today the Faculty of Law); Jakopič’s pavilion in Tivoli; the Yugoslav Credit Bank (now the Bank of Slovenia); the main railway station in Ljubljana and many other buildings in Ljubljana.
In addition to the construction work of Tönnies, they also had important achievements in mechanical engineering. The machinery developed included that what was used in forestry industry; wood processing; pumps and turbines; belt presses and the instruments for measuring earthquakes.
The Tönnies family made great contribution to the development of the architecture and the industry of the Ljubljana so it is important to remember them and their achievements in history.
