A Summer Residence between Velebit and the Sea
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Karlobag increasingly turned towards the sea as a place for holidays and relaxation. The municipal bathing area was improved and expanded, plans were made for a more attractive waterfront and promenades, and summer residences appeared along the shore. The meeting of Velebit and the sea attracted people wishing to spend their summers here or build a holiday home of their own.
This ambition is reflected in the establishment of the Society for the Improvement and Beautification of Karlobag and its Surroundings in the Croatian Littoral in 1913. Caring for the appearance of the town and its surroundings formed part of Karlobag’s gradual opening to visitors. Two decades later, Jutarnji list of 15 March 1932 described proposals for developing the bathing area, waterfront and promenades — a picture of a town increasingly linking its future to seaside holidays.
Villa Nada, the Gojtan family’s summer residence, belongs to this movement. On the rocky shore, between the sea and the stone terraces beneath Velebit, a holiday home took shape. Surviving applications, drawings and a building permit from 1917 reveal its beginnings, while a postcard from the 1930s shows the completed residence. The story of one house thus becomes part of the wider story of Karlobag finding its place as a summer destination.
From Velebit’s Peaks to the Seashore
Ivan Gojtan’s name is closely associated with Velebit and Croatian mountaineering. A lawyer and notary in Gospić, he was also active in cultural life, translation, photography and the organisation of mountaineering. Writing in Hrvatski planinar in 1928, Miroslav Hirtz highlighted his work with the Visočica society, maintaining paths and trail markings and organising ascents and excursions. His attachment to nature extended from the mountain trails to the coast beneath Velebit.
At the end of the same article, Hirtz described how Gojtan had devoted considerable effort and expense to creating a retreat in a coastal cove near Karlobag. He called it his tusculum — a quiet place for rest and withdrawal. This connection between mountaineering and the sea gives Villa Nada’s story its appeal: the summer residence belongs both to the family’s personal history and to the history of seaside leisure on the Karlobag coast.
Nada Gojtan and the Idea of a Summer Residence
While newspaper and mountaineering articles focus on Ivan, archival records reveal the important role of Nada Gojtan. She appears as the landowner and applicant for permission to build. In her application of June 1917, she listed cadastral plots 231 and 232/1 in Karlobag and requested permission to erect a summer residence. She wanted the necessary procedures completed in time for work to begin that summer.
The documents give the villa a personal story. Nada is more than a name in the drawing’s title: she signed applications, explained her ownership and sought approval for construction. Ivan represented her at the inspection, but the official records clearly identify her as the owner and applicant.
The application was considered by the district authority in Gospić and the maritime authorities in Rijeka. Proximity to the sea required the position of the proposed building and the responsibilities of the authorities to be established. An inspection was initially scheduled for 30 June; the joint inspection recorded in the surviving minutes took place on 14 July 1917. Ivan Gojtan represented Nada on that occasion.
A House Facing the Sea
The original sheet is entitled “Plan for the Construction of Mrs Nada Gojtan’s Summer Residence in Karlobag”. Ground-floor and upper-floor plans, the seaward elevation and a section offer an insight into the proposed house. Rooms, an internal staircase and terraces were arranged in a building whose relationship with the shore and outdoor space was central to its design.
During the site inspection, the commission recorded the high, rocky shore: the building site lay more than 8.20 metres from the sea surface at the highest water level. The maritime representatives concluded that the residence itself did not fall under the coastal-works regulation being considered. The bathing building beside the sea would require a separate procedure.
The Permit of 31 July 1917
On 31 July 1917, the Royal District Authority in Gospić issued Nada Gojtan a building permit for a summer residence on the specified plots, under reference 11.933–1917. The reasoning stated that no objections had been raised and that ownership had been demonstrated.
The permit also preserves specific technical requirements: foundations were to be built of stone and concrete, the rest of the building of fire-resistant materials, and the flat concrete roof was to have adequate strength and watertightness. The building’s position had to follow the attached site plan. With this document, the proposal received formal building approval.
The permit was valid for one year. This establishes the duration of the approval, but does not tell us when the house was completed. The material examined so far contains no completion certificate that would allow an exact construction year to be given.
Bathing Cabins and Winter Waves
The plans for seaside living did not end at the doorstep. At the July inspection, Ivan Gojtan already mentioned plans for a bathing building east of the residence, immediately beside the shore. In a later application, Nada explained that winter waves could damage the unprotected structure and therefore also requested a five-metre protective wall.
The surviving site plan separately identifies the residential building, bathing building and protective wall. A drawing of the bathing cabins at a scale of 1:50 shows two rooms: Cabin I and Cabin II. This small structure reveals how the family imagined everyday life at the residence — a house, access to the shore and a place to bathe.
Behind the technical drawings, the application hints at the realities of life on this coast. The sea that attracts bathers in summer can threaten a building at the edge of the rocks in winter. The protective wall was therefore an important part of the proposal: life beside the sea had to accommodate its power.
The maritime authority requested further technical information about the protective wall. The documents supplied therefore establish the proposal and the approval process for the bathing facilities; final permission and actual construction remain to be demonstrated.
The Residence in Interwar Karlobag
By 1928, Gojtan’s coastal retreat already existed: Hirtz described it as a cultivated corner of a seaside cove. Four years later, an article in Jutarnji list on Karlobag’s past and progress mentioned his “beautiful villa”. Alongside Gojtan’s residence, it named the villa of Dr Milan Perko of Ljubljana and announced plans for two more.
The article of 15 March 1932 is thus evidence of an already existing Gojtan villa, rather than an announcement of its construction. It also shows that private villas featured in contemporary accounts of the town’s development.
The photograph from the 1930s shows the completed summer residence: a terrace with a balustrade, a flat roofline, stone walls and prepared approaches above the sea. Comparison with the drawing reveals differences in certain openings and the façade. Photograph and design complement one another, but do not establish when or in what sequence all the alterations occurred.
A Place in the History of Seaside Holidays
Villa Nada belongs to the history of private summer residences and seaside leisure in Karlobag. Its documents reveal what usually remains hidden behind an old photograph: the landowner, the building application, technical requirements, plans for bathing facilities and the need for protection from waves. There is currently no confirmation that the villa operated as a hotel or commercial accommodation.
The journey from proposal to realised retreat can be traced from the applications and drawings of 1917 to Hirtz’s account of 1928. His text confirms that Gojtan’s coastal haven was already established by then, although the precise year of the house’s completion remains unknown. Describing the effort invested in transforming the cove, Hirtz wrote that Gojtan had:
“transformed the wild karst into a welcoming retreat”
Miroslav Hirtz, “Jubilej Ivana Gojtana”, Hrvatski planinar, no. 1, 1928, p. 4.
These words bring together the family’s story and the changes taking place in Karlobag: the coast was also becoming a place for rest, bathing and summer stays. Villa Nada is a surviving trace of that period — a house whose story emerges through Nada’s applications, the architectural drawings, Ivan’s attachment to Velebit and an old seaside postcard.
