František Uherka (1880–1948) built this Cubist-influenced modernist apartment building in 1913–1914 on what was originally the backyard of Pekařská 28. That property was owned by Anna Jonášová, from whom the builder’s wife Marie Uherková bought the land in February 1912. Permission to build a new apartment building was granted in March 1913, and the building was completed in 1914. According to the 1921 census, the building was owned by Marie Uherková, and she and František occupied one of the units with their four children. In 1926 the house was acquired by Rudolf Ehrlich, and it remained in the possession of Rudolf and Ella Ehrlich until the Second World War.
The distinctive design of the vertically composed facade is characterized by richly articulated volumes and the repeated use of sharply angled or crystal-like Cubist elements. The dominant feature of this dynamically composed facade is the central avant-corps flanked by two monumental pillars and topped by an ensemble of small gables of various shapes (arch, triangles, pentagon). Another noteworthy element is the building’s entrance, with its distinctive right-angled artificial stone portal, above which a trio of shard-like openings are framed by deep bevelled jambs. Above the entrance, a crystal-shaped bay window juts out sharply from the facade. Other Cubist architectural details include the sharp-angled windowsills atop crystal-like consoles.
The building’s progressively modernist design hints at inspiration from the Cubist architecture of Prague, although the Cubist motifs used here are more like references without any deeper connections – used essentially as one possible type of décor. The result is nevertheless a remarkable Cubistic building, a unique ‘crystalline jewel’ of Brno’s historical architecture.
Like its neighbours, the building is set into a slope. As a result, it has two basement floors with apartments, a raised ground floor, two floors above that and an attic. A staircase inside the main entrance vertically connects the various floors. Many of the original interior elements have been preserved, including the terrazzo staircase with its modernist handrail, the black and white wall tiles, the black and white floor tiles with a geometric pattern and the doors to the apartments.
Pavla Cenková
