František Uherka
After graduating from the Czech secondary technical school in Prague, Uherka went to see his brother Čeněk in the Rhineland, where he worked on several Protestant houses of prayer. In 1905 he moved to Nový Lískovec near Brna, where he significantly contributed to local development. In 1908 he received a licence to engage in building activities. In 1921, Uherka’s close friend and collaborator Čeněk Ruller began to work for him as an independent construction manager and architectural draftsman. Uherka was one of seven founding members of the first congregation of the Church of the Brethren in Brno, of which he was an active member his entire life and served on the council of elders in 1920–1921 and 1925–1948. A significant number of his architectural and building activities thus consisted of designs for and realizations of churches and houses of prayer for Protestant congregations. Other important religious buildings include a Rondocubist house of prayer of the Church of the Brethren in Kutná Hora and the first Methodist house of prayer in Czechoslovakia, built in Velvary according to Uherka’s plans. František Uherka left his mark on Brno’s – indeed, on European – architecture, when he joined with Čeněk Ruller to initiate the Nový Dům (New House) model housing estate in Žabovřesky. The economic crisis of the 1930s did not spare Uherka, and in 1935‒1939 he temporarily halted his business activities. The Second World War was a similarly difficult time, and shortly after war’s end, in 1948, his company was placed under national administration. František Uherka died on 21 May 1948 in Brno. On 5 March 1950, his building company was nationalized and incorporated into the state-run Czechoslovak Building Works.
Pavla Cenková
Architect
František Uherka
Date of birth
5. 2. 1880 Prosetín
Deceased
21. 5. 1948 Brno
Literature
Jiří Faber ,
Nový Lískovec 115. Let výročí vzniku obce,
Brno 2004
Václav Mayer,
Sto let české průmyslové školy 1837‒1937,
Praha 1937, p. 145
Pavel Borský ,
Dagmar Černoušková - Jindřich Chatrný ,
Nový dům Brno / New House Brno / 1928
,
Brno 2018
Pavel Zatloukal,
Brněnská architektura 1815–1915. Průvodce,
Brno 2006, p. 206
Ivana Švarcová,
Brněnský stavitel František Uherka a jeho architektonické dílo v Brně, bakalářská práce FFMU, Brno 2014
Daniela Kořínková,
Z dějin brněnského sboru Církve bratrské (archiv, správa a obraz v celocírkevních periodikách), diplomová práce FFMU, Brno 2014
Sources
MZA, fond H 789, František Uherka stavitel, Brno 1908‒1948
