About the house

Since 1797 a house has stood in the protected urban centre of Dob and preserved the characteristics of Slovenian built heritage through the centuries. In 2020 the house was renovated and restored in accordance with the principles of respect for heritage and the circular economy.

The renovated house, named Hiša 1797, retains its original building bulk, positioning and size of window openings. It has new roof tiles, restored and new doors and windows and a preserved orchard. The interior has been redesigned as a hybrid of old and new. Well preserved original construction elements have been retained, as has the masonry heater, staircase, semi-basement and wooden ceiling joists. The interior is also equipped with the furniture that decorated the house before it was renovated. Some of the pieces belonged to the writer Fran Detela (1850–1926). The bathrooms and kitchens are modern, as are all the installations. All this, together with the restored furniture, will ensure that guests enjoy their stay.

Hiša 1797 is meant for short-term stays. The house boasts a gallery of heritage objects that were found in the house and an exhibition of historical objects from the Lipica Stud Farm, with local products presented in the salon.

Four living units are named after important people who used to live in or frequent house: Apartma Fran Detela, Suita Ivo Detela, Apartma Hinko Smrekar in Apartma Julij Betetto. Occasional educational workshops for locals can be held in the Apartment Fran Detela. This apartment, together with the hall and in certain cases the garden, is intended for the organisation of various cultural events.

Hiša 1797* is a relatively large single-storey masonry Upper Carniolan house. According to the spoken account of Vida Detela, who lived in the house from 1925 to 2005, the house was built in the late 18th century and originally had a masonry ground floor and a wooden upper floor with a long wooden balcony (gank).

In the 19th century it housed the Dob one-room school. When a new schoolhouse was built in 1822, it was bought by a new owner who sold it to Franc Iglič – Milajzen in the late 1860s. Franc and his wife Barbara had one child, Adela (b. 1864). Adela married Karel Detela, who moved to Dob from Moravče. Karel was the initiator of organised firefighting in Dob and brother of writer Fran Detela, whose furniture still decorates Hiša 1797. The family were merchants and innkeepers. They had four sons.

Adela Detela (born Iglič ) lived quite the high life and often hosted young intellectuals, classmates of her sons Karl and Stanko, who both studied in Vienna. Painter Hinko Smrekar and opera singer Julij Betetto, among others, visited the house. When his mother died in 1908, son Ivo Detela dropped out of grammar school in Ljubljana and returned to Dob, where he took over the running of the shop and inn.

Ivo Detela was elected mayor of Dob in 1927 and once more in 1933. He was mayor until the German occupation. At that time the mayor’s office was in the house that is now Hiša 1797. The mayor’s office was marked by a sign next to the main entrance.

Among the achievements of Ivo Detela’s terms as mayor is the new primary school, which was built in 1936 and which he strived to build from the moment he was elected. It was the most modern primary school in Slovenia at the time of its opening. Ivo Detela also built the old bridge over the Rača, near Močilnik. He maintained the roads and regulated watercourses. He was a mediator and resolved many disputes before they ended up in court. He would take the conflicting parties to the municipal office on Sundays after Mass. In the late 1930s, the family ceased to work as merchants and innkeepers.

The last of the family to live in the house was Vida Detela, the daughter of Ivo Detela, who died in 2005. Vida Detela taught religious education in Dob for 60 years and was well known to generations of locals.
In 1999, Vida Detela gifted the house to Andreja Osredkar, daughter of her sister Barica Pollak (born Detela). In 2019, the house with its courtyard and outbuilding was bought by architect Mateja Panter and actor and producer Franci Kek.

The house on Ulica 7. avgusta 28 is one of the oldest homesteads in Dob and also one of the few that, with its traditional appearance, revives the old-world image of the village of Dob as it once was. At the same time, it represents an important monument of over two centuries of local history.
*House 1797