At the beginning of the 20th century, the brothers Justín and Jozef Pilárik bought an old watermill, just next to the Skalice castle wall. In 1927, they rebuilt it into a modern three-storey electric mill in half a year. The new building was designed by the Josef Prokop and Sons firm from Pardubice, which was one of the most progressive engineering firms specialising in mill equipment at that time. Ten years later, the mill was extended again. Architecturally, the new warehouse building (now the grain cleaning unit) was integrated into the original mill building and blended in with the first phase of construction. From the very beginning, the mill was electrified, but for economic reasons it was converted to a gas powered mill in 1940 with a powerful 60-70 HP gas drive by Ignác Lorenz motors from Kroměříž, and after the war the drive was again replaced by electricity. Since the mill was opened, wheat and rye have been milled here, and after nationalisation, even PVC. The production ceased in 1961 and the buildings were conserved. Almost all of the original production equipment made of high-quality wood has been preserved, as well as the original electrical machinery, transmissions and the complete set of mill buildings. The buildings have a unified architectural expression, the smooth lesenes are alternated by structured plaster, the window linings run up to a third of their height. The engine house has straight window lintels ending with a decorative canopy-shaped lining with three receding squares, which gives it a more pompous character than was the custom of the time in the construction of the engine houses. The mill now houses a museum.
Bibliography:
BAČA, Robert a kol. Skalica: Skalica, Mesto Skalica 2014.
Štátny archív Skalica, Okresný úrad v Skalici, škatuľa č. 1927, 349, 438
