Ernst Kesa schoolwork at German Technical University in Brno, ca 1933. MEA 12.2.7

Ernst Kesa and His Studies at the German Technical University in Brno

Ernst Kesa studied in Brno during the first half of the 1930s, when the university’s golden era began to face the impact of the economic crisis. The local German Technical University was exceptionally popular among international students, who made up nearly half of its 1,740 enrolled students. This high interest was due to instruction conducted entirely in German, as well as the school’s excellent reputation as a scientific institution competing with Vienna. For Estonian students, this environment was a natural choice: thanks to Estonia’s Baltic-German history, German was a common second language, so there was no language barrier.

The first twelve Estonian students enrolled in 1924, and their numbers grew steadily. A major boost came in 1929 with the introduction of visa-free travel between Czechoslovakia and Estonia. For Estonians, the German Technical University in Brno became the second most popular European university after Danzig (Gdańsk). They were attracted by the high quality of education and the relatively low tuition and living costs compared to Western Europe. During the interwar period, Estonian students made up an average of 2.2% of all foreign students at the school.

Ernst Kesa and his brother August, who studied insurance science at the university, entered a prestigious and distinctly international environment in early 1930s. During their studies, the school underwent significant modernization. A clear example was the opening of the brand-new student canteen on Údolní Street, designed by Professor Vinzenz Baier, which provided very affordable dining.

Housing options varied dramatically depending on the students’ finances. The most popular place was the comfortable Lindenheim student dormitory beneath Špilberk Castle. In contrast, the Fischerheim dormitory served as a harsh temporary residence without basic amenities, where up to 30 people shared a single room. From December 1933, the Neuer Heim dormitory on Lipová Street offered better living conditions. Students who could not secure a spot in the dormitories had to rent private rooms, which were often twice as expensive and usually offered only small, dark quarters.

However, the greatest burden was the cost of studying itself. Foreign students paid double the tuition of local Czechoslovak students and were subject to an additional fee for foreigners. As the economic crisis deepened, studying became up to four times more expensive for international students, leading to a massive outflow after 1932. Since the Kesa family came from a modest rural background and was not wealthy, it is likely that the brothers received scholarships—either from the Estonian government to support young experts, or directly from the school, which offered financial aid to talented students.

The curriculum at the Brno Technical University was different from today’s system. Students had to personally visit individual instructors to register for specific lectures or practical courses, and have their enrollment confirmed by the professor’s signature. Ernst Kesa thus studied at the institutes of structural engineering, bridge building, and technical drawing. He studied technical drawing under Emil Tranquillini, an architect and a respected educator originally from Vienna, who gained great authority in Brno and eventually became a dean and rector. Alongside technical drawing, he taught students architectural ornamentation and lectured on medieval building techniques. Education at this prestigious yet traditional institution required absolute precision, which remains evident in Kesa’s surviving student drawings today. The education relied not only on theoretical lectures, but hands-on training played a crucial role. Students spent a significant amount of time in drawing rooms, laboratories, and workshops.

However, the German Technical University did not have an easy position in interwar Brno and faced opposition from the Czechoslovak public. There was strong local rivalry with the parallel Czech Technical University, which was recognized as a global center of modern functionalist architecture. Czechoslovaks viewed the German Technical University with distrust, seeing it as a conservative symbol of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire that remained isolated from the city’s Czech majority and the ideals of the new republic. These social tensions further escalated during the 1930s with the rise of Nazism in Germany.

Schoolworks of Ernst Kesa made at German Technical University at Brno in 1931–1936 were donated to the Estonian Museum of Architecture by the architect himself at 1992 among with multiple projects and photos (82 archivals). Personal fond 12 – Ernst Kesa was created.

Text: Lucie Janečková

• 1930s

Anton Soans, Edgar Johan Kuusik, 1932-1933. EAM 16.1.39

Sketches of the facade of the Tallinn Art Hall

Designed by architects Anton Soans and Edgar Johan Kuusik, the Tallinn Art Hall is one of the most outstanding examples of functionalism in Estonia. In order to find the most suitable facade design, the architects sketched different solutions – the drawings show different designs for the entrance to the building, the arrangement of windows and the details on the facade. The facade solution of the building also changed slightly during the construction works, when the initially planned round windows were replaced with vertical niches. The cornerstone of the Tallinn Art Hall was laid on August 29, 1933, and it was officially opened with an art exhibition on September 15, 1934. The modernity of the originally five-storey building with a T-shaped ground plan is emphasized by the main entrance of the building that is stepping back from the street line and the central part of the front facade that is resting on two pillars, as well as the flat roof of the building. The glass screen located in the middle of the facade, as if placed inside a frame, connects the artists’ studios, office spaces and exhibition hall located on different floors on the facade into one. In 1937, the bronze figures “Work” and “Beauty” designed by the sculptor Juhan Raudsepp were placed in the niches of the facade. According to the project of Edgar Johan Kuusik, the last floor of the Art Building was rebuilt in 1962, as a result of which the building became as high as the adjacent Art Foundation building (architect Alar Kotli). In 1993, Ado Soans, son of Anton Soans, donated the facade drawings to the museum. Text: Anna-Liiza Izbaš

(klick on the picture to see more illustrations)

• 1930s
• Anton Soans
• Edgar Johan Kuusik

Alar Kotli, 1938. EAM 2.9.2

Lantern drawing of the President’s Office

The main entrance of the President’s Office is flanked by lanterns featuring abundant rosettes and leaf motifs which comprise an integral whole with the Neo-Baroque architecture. Seeing as this is a representative building, there are sockets for flag poles above the lanterns. The drawing also depicts a familiar motif from the coat of arms of Estonia – a bronze leopard (by sculptor Voldemar Mellik) set to guard the doorway on both sides. This pencil drawing was part of the colletion given to the museum in 1993 via firm Eesti Ehitusmälestised. Text: Sandra Mälk

• 1930s
• Alar Kotli

Erika Nõva, 1939. EAM 2.6.34

The competition project of physical culture centre “Siseõu”. II prize

Sports and physical culture become the keywords of modern life in the mid-1930s. Planning a representative sports building in Tallinn become on the agenda. A suitable location was found in the Falkpark (today Falgi Park) located at Toompuiestee. In November 1938, the architectural competition was announced. The plan was grandiose: the building had to hold a main hall (20×40 m) for gymnastics, basketball and volleyball, tennis, wrestling, weightlifting and other fields. The stands had seats for 4,500 spectators. Another large room group consisted of a swimming pool (14×25 m) and two saunas, and the third was a gymnasium. In addition to training, dressing and washrooms, office spaces and apartments for officials were also planned. The international competition ended in April 1939. Finnish architects Enn Muistre and Einar Teräsvirta won the first prize, the third prize went to Latvian architect Arturs Reinfelds. Erika Nõva, one of the first female architects in Estonia, received the second prize. The award committee highlighted Nõva’s urban-planningly successful solution “… because the semicircular forms relate architecturally well to multi-directional streets.” The solution of the main hall, the swimming pool and the central part of the building was called magnificent / Eesti Arhitektuur. Varamu arhitektuuri osakond nr 3, 1939/. Erika Nõva recalls: “This job started to bother me. I thought I don’t deserve it, but I couldn’t give up the thought either. Little by little, I began to observe related examples from foreign magazines and tried to sketch it according to the program. When I showed these sketches to Kotli and Soans /… /, they encouraged me to continue working.” / Erika Nõva. Minu töö ja elu. Tallinn, 2006, p. 61/. What follows is a long and cheerful description of the work-hours at night, the draftsman’s assistant Tsinovski (Nopski), the nerve-wracking moments when sending off the work at the post office of Nõmme station, the victory celebration at the “Ehitaja” office and later at Mustamäe’s home. Text: Anne Lass

• 1930s
• Erika Nõva

Alvar Aalto, 1932. Maquette: Peet Veimer. EAM MK 47

Villa Tammekann in Tartu

February 3 is the 125th anniversary of the birth of the world-famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. The private residence of the University of Tartu professor August Tammekann at Kreutzwaldi st. 6 Tartu is the only completed building in Estonia designed by architect Aalto. The flat roofed, two-storey functionalist building was partially completed in 1933. According to the style’s principles, the building’s facade reflects the usage of the interior spaces. On the street side, a stairwell rises behind the vertical window, on the courtyard side, the central element is the wide ribbon window of the living room with a fireplace located at the bottom of the window. The flat roof of the house, which was not widespread at the time, caused a lot of discussion among the locals and was even considered as an anti-God phenomenon. The villa was rebuilt into an apartment building during the Soviet period. In 1994, the building was returned to Professor Tammekann’s offspring, in the 1998 University of Turku bought the building. The villa was restored according to Alvar Aalto’s project in 2000. Today, the Granö Centre of the universities of Turku and Tartu is located in the building.
The maquette of Villa Tammekann was made for the Estonian Architecture Museum exhibition “Aalto: three projects in Estonia” by Peet Veimer in 1998. Text: Anna-Liiza Izbaš

• 1930s
• Alvar Aalto

August Volberg, Edgar Velbri, 1935. EAM 31.1.66

Competition entry for the tuberculosis sanatorium in Taevaskoda

Sanatoriums were part of a healthy lifestyle that was promoted in the 1930s. Untouched natural environments started to be taken under protection as well as Taevaskoda in Põlva County in 1935. The architecture competition for skeletal TB sanatorium, held soon after, aimed to find a building fitting the environment to serve as a health institution. The first prize was given to a pair of renowned architects. Prominent shadows and a strong ink line in the drawing indicate that they were influenced by modern industry and technology. The building was designed for 90 patients and also housed the open-air school for children with pulmonary disease. The drawing was donated to the museum as a part of the archive of August Volberg by Heili Volberg in 2001. Text: Sandra Mälk

• 1930s
• August Volberg
• Edgar Velbri

Aarne Mõttus (drawing), Arnold Matteus, Karl Burman. MEA 2.3.49

Lighting design for the bank building in Tartu

In 1936 the people of Tartu named the building of the Tartu branch of Eesti Pank (Bank of Estonia) (designed by Arnold Matteus and Karl Burman) as one of the most stately-looking new structures in the city. The bronze sculptures by sculptor Juhan Raudsepp add to the artistic integrity of the presentable façade. It was no coincidence that this bank building was also chosen as one of the public buildings to be decorated for the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. The lighting design for the façade, overseeing the square, was prepared by graphic and scenographer Aarne Mõttus. Drawing was donated by restoration firm Pindisain Ehitus in 2001. Text: Sandra Mälk

• 1930s
• Aarne Mõttus
• Arnold Matteus
• Karl Burman

August Volberg, 1936. EAM 31.1.13

Sanatorium named after General J. Laidoner in Haapsalu

The Estonian Red Cross sanatorium in Haapsalu, named after General Johan Laidoner, was designed by architect August Volberg. The building was completed in 1937. Built primarily for soldiers who had suffered in the War of Independence, the sanatorium had 41 double rooms and a spacious terrace with a sea view. The main architectural emphasis of the functionalist building is on the entrance and the glass wall of the stairwell above it. The high flagpole on the roof of the building and its distinctive curved base structure emphasise the importance of the sanatorium. The connection between the glass corner and the rest of the facade makes it possible to find links with the work of architect Walter Gropius in Germany. Text: Anna-Liiza Izbaš

• 1930s
• August Volberg