page_title: Petschek Villa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Petschek Villa / History
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Pohled na rezidenci ze zahrady. Rezidence velvyslance USA se nachází na adrese Ronalda Reagana č. 181/3 v Praze 6—Bubenči. Reprezentační vilu nechal postavil v letech 1924-30 Otto Petschek, člen prvorepublikové bankéřské rodiny. English: The U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Prague (Villa Petschek), the Czech Republic. The Neo-Baroque residence of the United States Ambassador in Prague was designed and built between 1924 and 1930 by Otto Petschek, a wealthy banker and industrialist.
context_page_description: The Petschek Villa is a palatial home built by Otto Petschek in the early 1920s in Prague. Since 1945 it has been the residence of the United States Ambassadors first to Czechoslovakia, and subsequently, to the Czech Republic.
context_section_description: The house was built by Otto Petschek, a member of a German-speaking, Jewish family, with financial interests in coal mines and banking.  The Petschek family departed Prague in 1938, fearing conquest by Nazi Germany.  They immigrated to the United States.
  During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Villa became the residence of General Rudolf Toussaint, commander of the German army occupying Czech lands.  At the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Army occupied the Residence for several days, after which it became Headquarters for the Czechoslovak General Staff.
  In 1945 Laurence Steinhardt, American Ambassador, leased the Residence from the Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defense and it became the American Ambassadorial Residence.  In 1948, the American government purchased the Villa, and the adjacent buildings now used as the Deputy Chief of Mission's house, and the Staff-house for $1,570,000.
caption: Petschek Villa
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