Built in 1905 on two originally medieval plots that were cleared during Brno’s redevelopment, this apartment building has a noteworthy facade that stylistically straddles the line between late historicism and Art Nouveau.
The building’s owner, Barbara Walehrach, was born in 1857 in Veverská Bítýška. Her first husband was Franz Bartoschek, and in the 1890s the couple owned the original building at this address, where they ran the U Komety restaurant, which presented itself in contemporary advertisements as an establishment with elegant furnishings, excellent warm and cold cuisine and genuine Pilsner beer. After Franz Bartoschek died in 1897, the widowed Barbara ran the restaurant on her own; for some time, it was operated by Franz Zenkel. In June 1904 Barbara Bartoschek bought the neighbouring building at Kobližná 9, and on 22 June 1904 she married Vincenzo Walehrach, who was also a publican by trade. In 1905, she had the buildings at numbers 7 and 9 demolished to make way for a new apartment building, at the time designated Kobližná 7/9. Barbara Walehrach died soon after, on 17 June 1907. In 1910 the building was acquired by Paul and Felix Steinschneider, who sold furniture, wallpaper, sewing machines and accessories out of the building. That same year, a pharmacy opened on the building’s ground floor; it is still in operation today.
The four-storey apartment building has a six-bay facade overlooking Kobližná Street with a classic three-part horizontal composition consisting of a ground floor, a two-storey bel étage and a top floor. The central part of the facade is accentuated by a rectangular oriel culminating in a balcony with wrought-iron railings. The two lateral window bays are accentuated by several distinctive architectural elements: on the first floor, the windows are framed by pairs of columns underneath a cornice decorated with large vases, and the windows on the upper floors are framed by pilasters. This composition is rounded out by the use of rich geometric and vegetal stuccowork and roughly textured plaster.
Pavla Cenková