Maxim Johann Monter was an architect of Jewish descent and a professor at the German technical school in Brno in 1905–1910, during which time he played a significant role in giving the historical city centre its new appearance. Many of the apartment buildings he designed for parcels that had been cleared during the city’s redevelopment were built by the successful construction company of Adolf Bacher and Karel Pětník. One such joint undertaking was the group of uniformly designed apartment buildings on a prominent corner of Biskupská Street on the way to the cathedral and Denis Gardens. These striking buildings, a prime example of prestigious high-quality residential development from the first decade of the 20th century, play a significant role in the urban space that forms the immediate foreground of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. The former town houses numbered 266 and 267 and the old waterworks near Denis Gardens were acquired in 1907 by the builder Adolf Bacher, the chief engineer Karel Pětník and the master carpenter and timber merchant Jan Škára. Following demolition, the trio built a block of three apartment buildings along the newly laid-out street. The year of construction is dated 1907–1908 on the corner of the building on Biskupská Street and 1908 on the elevation overlooking Denis Gardens. The richly articulated facade of this monumental building block is a prime example of Monter’s distinctive style. A mix of late historicism and Art Nouveau, it was characterized by the romantic arrangement of volumes and a picturesque quality inspired by the era’s architecture of Munich. As with other buildings built around this time, Monter ‘clothed’ a straight-forward structural configuration in the impressive finery of the street-facing facades. Great emphasis was placed on the buildings’ urban character. The triumvirate of variously structured facades was composed using a vibrant palette of Romanticist motifs. The various facades’ rich volumetric composition involves a refined interplay of symmetry and asymmetry accomplished with the aid of variously shaped and sized windows, oriels, balconies, masonry and wooden loggias and gables. The building overlooking the small square towards Šilingrovo náměstí is dominated by a monumental pentagonal tower. The rich stucco decoration features Neo-Baroque motifs such as half-figures of angels, expressive mascarons, and cartouches inside Neo-Baroque frames on the apron walls. The facades’ undecorated surfaces are finished in a variety of ways, including natural stone on the socle, banded rustication on the raised ground floor and the alternating use of smooth and rough plaster on the upper floors. In terms of interior layout, the buildings are transverse double-pile structures with stairwells projecting into the courtyard on an axis with the main entrances. The building overlooking Denis Gardens is the birthplace and childhood home of the actor Hugo Haas and his brother, the composer Pavel Haas, a fact which is commemorated by a bronze plaque designed by Maria Othová and unveiled in 1997. The entire block has been sensitively renovated while preserving the buildings’ original appearance inside and out.
Pavla Cenková