Villa Ružić
address: 5 PećinePeriod: Modernism
Kind: Immovable material heritage
Century: 20
Year: 1937
Purpose: residental
The villa Ružić is a family house. Viktor Ružić, senior, the Croatian Vice-Roy and minister of justice, lawyer, cultural worker and painter, PhD of law had it built in 1938 according to the project by David Brunetta, famous residential house architect at the time.
The villa was built as a two-storey building on an inclined ground, so that the basement is partly dug under. The house is oriented towards the south. The façade has a particularly prominent and characteristic porch with semi-circular arches. Above the basement, there is a high ground floor where the architect placed representative rooms. The entrance to the house is on the west and south side. The first floor rooms, the large library at the southeast corner and the two separate bathrooms with a toilet can be accessed from the central hall. The attic contains two additional rooms, a storage room and a chamber. Around the house, there is a rich garden, with a direct, private access to the beach.
The villa is special for many things, and in terms of architecture, it is special for the fact that it was designed according to the furniture that Viktor and Nada Ružić inherited and used in the house Ružić at 26 Strossmayerova Street. The construction and design was personally supervised by Viktor Ružić, who was also an amateur painter.
Nada Brlić Ružić, Viktor’s wife, was the eldest daughter of Ivana Brlić Mažuranić, the famous Croatian writer and the granddaughter of Ivan Mažuranić, the Croatian Vice-Roy.
Today villa Ružić keeps the items which are a part of the Memorial Library and the collection Mažuranić-Brlić-Ružić. It consists of 8000 books in 10.000 volumes, a collection of photographs, documents, stylish furniture, art works and busts, as well as personal items for everyday use of the mentioned families and their relatives. The following are just some of the items kept in the collection: a bust of Ivan Mažuranić by the sculptor Ivan Rendić, the rings of Smail-aga Čengić given to Ivan Mažuranić by the Montenegrin duke Đorđe Cerović, the son of the hero Novica Cerović who killed Smail-aga, and the periodical editions of the paper Danica Ilirska, later Danica Horvatzka.
Valorization:
Archive materials in the Memorial Library and the collection Mažuranić-Brlić-Ružić represent protected cultural goods entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia.
Bibliography:
PAR JU 48, box 12
www.villaruzic.hr
de Canziani, Theodor, Spomenička knjižnica i zbirka Mažuranić-Brlić-Ružić, Sušačka revija, no. 49, 2005, pp. 43–48.
de Canziani, Theodor, Korak po korak, ustrajno pješke, Sušačka revija, no. 49, 2005, pp. 61–66.
Tadić, Katica, Bogat život dr. Viktora Ružića, Sušačka revija, no. 49, 2005, pp. 53–56.
Glavočić, Daina, Viktor Ružić – slikar amater, Sušačka revija, no. 49, 2005, pp. 57–60.
Milin, Čedomila, Burna kemijska reakcija, Sušačka revija, no. 49, 2005, pp. 67–72.
Benčić, Luka, Najljepša romansa iz Rijeke, Jutarnji list, 19 February 2007. Link: http://www.jutarnji.hr/najljepsa-romansa-iz-rijeke/213735/ (27/1/2016)
Lozzi Barković, Julija, Arhitektura Rijeke i Sušaka između dva rata (6): Obiteljska Vila Ružić, Novi list, 21 March 2015. Link: http://www.novilist.hr/Kultura/Arhitektura-Rijeke-i-Susaka-izmedu-dva-rata-6-Obiteljska-Vila-Ruzic?meta_refresh=true
Matković, Majda, Gilda Ružić: Čekam denacionalizaciju, Sušačka revija, vol. 4, no. 13, 1996, pp. 9–17.
Mueller Thomamuehl, Dagobert: Moj djed Đuro Ružić, Sušačka revija, vol. 2, no. 8, 1994, pp. 89–90.
Lukežić, Irvin, Tvorci modernog Sušaka, Sušačka revija, vol. 2, no. 5, 1994, pp. 13–15.
Žic, Igor, Dr. Ivan Ružić, Sušačka revija, vol. 1, no. 2-3, 1993, pp. 29–30.
Labus, Nenad, Ing. Viktor Ružić, Sušačka revija, vol. 1, no. 1, 1993, p. 37
