The area around what is now Úvoz Street underwent massive changes at the turn 20th century. Until the late 19th century, it was home mainly to fields, meadows and pastures, with only the odd building. Over time, contiguous urban development transformed mainly the northern part of this territory between Veveří and Lidická Streets. The hilly terrain from Údolní Street towards Staré Brno (Old Brno) was not developed until after 1900. After acquiring several lucrative plots at the foot of Špilberk Hill, the Brno developer and architect Friedrich Gottlob Karl Alber and his wife Rosalie built several apartment buildings on this land.
The first three (Úvoz 52, 54 and 56, built 1903–1904) were co-owned by Alber and his wife Rosalie at least until 1908. (Alber built two more directly for his wife in 1907.) By 1911, all except Úvoz 56 belonged exclusively to Rosalie, perhaps as the result of an agreement between the couple regarding the equal distribution of assets, although it seems more likely that Rosalie herself was an entrepreneur. (Among other things, until 1914 she held a leading position at the Černovice sand quarry.) Be that as it may, the family gradually sold all the buildings apart from the largest at no. 52, which Rosalie kept. Úvoz 54 was acquired by Ella Weinberger around 1917, and Úvoz 56 was owned by Eugen and Alice Perlhäffner after 1919. After 1948, the apartments in these buildings, which were of varying levels of comfort, were occupied by a broad cross-section of society, including workers and craftsmen, a beautician, a high-ranking postal official, a managing director, a commissioner, and a member of the high court. The buildings serve as housing to this day.
Friedrich Alber designed the first three buildings in a uniform style. On the largest, no. 52, the right-most window bay protrudes in the form of a shallow avant-corps, while the centre of the facade is accentuated by a two-storey oriel. The number of window bays on Úvoz 54 and 56 together roughly corresponds to those on their neighbour, except that their facades have a denser feel and are essentially mirror images of one another so that, visually, they form one unit. Looking at them as a double house, we count upper-floor balconies on the right-most and left-most margins and at the centre, above the ground-floor entrances. Alber composed the facades using his characteristic Baroque and Rococo motifs, though influenced by contemporary Art Nouveau stylization. This approach is particularly evident in the balcony grilles and the oval gables with canopies above the crown cornice. Like Franz Pawlu’s nearby houses on Konečného náměstí, these buildings allow us to admire a comprehensive ensemble of Art Nouveau apartment buildings in Brno, although their uniform effect is somewhat impaired today by the different colours of the facades, which most probably were originally one shade.
Matěj Kruntorád