November the 14th, 2026 – There’s a beautiful house in Croatia that looks as if it’s rising from the sea, and the doctor who lived there used to prescribe both aristocrats and prisoners wine there.
The beautiful Brijuni islands are an unusual Istrian archipelago. They were once a favourite destination of European aristocracy and the place where Josip Broz Tito hosted statesmen from around the world. Ivana Vasarevic reports for Putni kofer that on Veliki Brijun specifically, right next to the harbour where tourist boats dock, there’s a particularly interesting building. It looks as if it is rising right out of the sea, it’s over 120 years old, and for decades a doctor lived there who took care of the health of the island’s guests. It’s known as the Boat House (Kuća za brodice) and it is at the heart of a story that takes us back to the era when the Brijuni islands were one of the most elegant resorts on the entire Adriatic coast.
THE ONLY COMPLETELY PRESERVED ART NOUVEAU BUILDING ON VELIKI BRIJUN
It all began back at the end of the 19th century, when the Austrian industrialist Paul Kupelwieser purchased Brijuni and decided to turn the area into a luxury tourist destination. That’s when the Boothaus, or Boat House, was also constructed. In 1901, Kupelwieser engaged the young Viennese architect Eduard Kramer, a pupil of the famous Otto Wagner, to design an apartment above the existing boat storage. The building was completed in 1902 and is considered the only completely preserved Art Nouveau building on Veliki Brijun. The ground floor of the House boasts four large arches facing the sea and once served for storing boats. Above it is the residential floor with a spacious balcony and an elegant wrought-iron railing, while on the land side a winding staircase leads to the former apartment. It is also worth noting that the attractive Boat House was the first building of civil purpose on the island built using reinforced concrete.
DOCTOR OTTO LENZ EVEN PRESCRIBED WINE WITH IRON TO HIS PATIENTS
From 1903 to 1938, it was the home and workplace of doctor Otto Lenz, who settled on Brijuni with his wife and son. His task was to take care of the health of the resort’s guests, and in the house he set up a surgery and a well-equipped pharmacy. He received patients every day from 10 to 12 o’clock. Among them were distinguished and wealthy visitors to Brijuni, but also convicts from the prison in Koper who worked on the construction of the island’s hotels.
In Lenz’s pharmacy one could obtain tonic syrups and preparations against headache, rheumatism, colds, fainting and seasickness, and the doctor also prescribed wine with iron to his patients! This preparation was used to stimulate the appetite, strengthen the nerves and improve the blood count. The original glass bottles for medicines, found during diving and cleaning of the Brijuni harbour, are today exhibited precisely in the Boat House.
THE LENZ COUPLE LEFT THE BRIJUNI ARCHIPELAGO IN 1938 AND MOVED TO OPATIJA
Thanks to the notes of the doctor’s wife Maria, who in 1956 handed over her memories to the archive of the Brijuni Administration, it was possible to reconstruct the former purpose of the rooms. Thus we know that their house had a kitchen, bedroom, salon, maid’s room and waiting room. Maria was a musician, so music was also an important part of the family’s everyday life. An interactive museum exhibition has been arranged in the house where you can listen to music from that time, and as you pass through the former kitchen, the sounds of dishes can be heard that evoke the everyday life of the Lenz family. The Boat House was their home for more than three decades. The couple eventually left the archipelago in 1938 and moved to Opatija on the mainland.
