The Thum mill

If we get deeper to the literature, we can find the first mention of the Jenišov mill in 1631. The miller Kryštof Thum had gathered the inhabitants of Osečná to prevent the removal of tithe grain by the Dean of Dub. This rebellion move has sent him to prison. The mill changed hands and only came back into the hands of the Thum family through Kryštof's son, Kryštof Thum junior. The Thum family then operated the mill for several generations, after which several other owners took care of the mill. In the nineteenth century the mill was raided and the owners of that time, the Reischels, were murdered by robbers. A cross near the mill commemorates this event. From then on, the mill began to decline until finally, in the 1950s, the blades of the mill wheel after all stopped. After that, the mill was mostly used for recreational purposes and fell into disrepair.

When a descendant of Kryštof Thum, the first documented owner of the mill, contacted us with a request to reconstruct the mill, we were thrilled. However, thoughts of a generous preservation of the mill quickly took a backseat. The technical condition of the historic building is to be unfortunately catastrophic. Saving the historic mill would mean firstly demolishing it and secondly rebuilding it. Given the client's requirements for the layout of the house, implementing a building program would not have been easy either, so we decided to design an entirely new house for the client. All with respect to the family who built the mill four centuries ago and to the surrounding landscape, the romantic source of the Ploučnice River.

The new house respects the volume of the original mill in terms of material and mass. The modern wooden structure is made out of CLT panels. While it looses its own previous function, the spirit of the place and the occasional humming of the mill should remain in Jenišovský Mill.

In the cellars, where the shaft of the mill wheel used to pass, there is to be placed technical facilities and a garage. The beloved cars find their place there, along with all the necessary technology that keeps the house running smoothly.

One floor up is to be the living floor and the main entrance to the house. On this floor, the exposed timber structure permeates the interior. Textures of natural wood and concrete enhance the interior atmosphere of the weekend house.

The generous bedrooms for the homeowner and his descendants are located another floor up.

In the truss below the roof is a space intended as a playroom, study, or occasional sleeping area for visitors.

From the outside, the house does not dare to dominate the space, which has long been defined by individual buildings. The garden of the mill is completed by a small structure intended for resting, thus closing the space between the house and the garden into a single unit. While that, behind the fence water occasionaly gurgles on the place, where waterwheel once gave life to the mill wheel. Those days are long gone. Grain has not been milled here for more than half a century. Nevertheless, we would like to highlight the water in our project with a small kinetic installation, that occasionally recalls the old days.

Working with clients who have a connection to a place over several centuries, is an interesting excursion into the past and into the soul of a place. We try to handle valuable historical relics with care, while at the same time we trust the client's intuition and emotions. They know the best where the boundaries of relationship with the past life and what is truly valuable to him.