Vilem & Gertruda Kraus family apartment,1930, 10 Bendova Street
Loos made alterations to this five-room apartment for engineer and chemist Vilem Kraus and his wife Gertruda from 1930 to 1931. Loos was well known for creating visual illusions with mirrors and this apartment is the perfect example.

The living room and dining room were integrated into one large, luxurious 60 sq m space, clad predominantly in mirrored surfaces that reflect and refract the thick-set Cipolin marble pillars in the corners and the dark, polished mahogany veneer ceiling.

The bedroom, a much more subdued affair, is clad in a lighter maple wood. The original furniture of the apartment no longer exists but the panelling and built-in furnishings have been remarkably preserved.

Vilem Kraus, of Jewish origin, left the apartment in 1939 to start a new life in England. His wife and children never managed to join him and died in concentration camps.

Hugo Semler House, 1931-1932, 19 Klatovska Street
This spacious apartment, built for industrialist and factory owner Hugo Semler, was one of Loos' last completed projects before his death in 1933. Loos was tasked with the design of the music room; the rest of the apartment was decorated in Loos' style.

The music room -- connected to the living room by sliding glass doors - is dominated by panels of rare, highly veined, black-and-white marble called, rather fittingly, Fantastico. Again, the panelling is terminated, just below the ceiling, with two cornices in elm.

The deliberately symmetrical room centres on a red-brick fireplace - reminiscent of Josef Vogl's apartment - which was originally topped with a panelled mirror.

During the Second World War the apartment was used as a study for Georg von Majewsky, the army commander of the city of Pilsen. He shot himself in the living room in May 1945 as the war was coming to an end.

Afterwards and until 1993, the apartment belonged to the Czech army. Today, it is still awaiting reconstruction and is not accessible to the public.

Oskar & Jana Semler House, 1932-33, 10 Klatovska Street
The large flat was created out of two apartments for factory owner Oskar Semler, the brother of Hugo Semler (see previous page). Due to ill health, Loos' design was completed by his former pupil, architect Heinrich Kulka. It therefore shows some hallmarks of a Loos design but also has some awkward details, such as the convoluted circulation, that mark it out from previous projects.

The large living room features a bar in Canadian birch and balcony space above that connects to a small living room with upholstered benches, the bedrooms and a dark mahogany-lined dining room.

Loos did not live to see the design completed. The apartment is being renovated and is set to become a Loos visitor and study centre.