The rapid growth of Brno’s population in the second half of the 19th century led to an increased demand for healthcare services, and the complex of St. Anne’s Hospital soon found that it lacked sufficient capacity. In response, in 1898 the hospital acquired the neighbouring building at Pekařská 55 (the former commandery and hospital of the Order of St. John from the year 1243), followed later by the buildings at Bürgergasse (Měšťanská Street) 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13. On the site vacated by their demolition, a residence for nurses was built with a cloister and a chapel, located on the south-western edge of the hospital complex, near the entrance from what today is Mendlovo náměstí. The plans for the building, dated February 1909, are marked with the stamp of the former Moravian Building Authority in Brno, without any explicit personal authorization. With a view to the building’s form, we may surmise that its architect was either Vladimír Fischer or Franz Holik, both of whom were employees of the authority at the time the design originated. Construction work was carried out by the builder Antonín Müller, and the nurses’ residence was ceremonially consecrated and handed over for use in 1910.
The building housed around thirty nurses from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis under the protection of the Holy Family (the congregation is still active in Brno, on Grohová Street). The nuns worked at the hospital’s surgical clinic, the ophthalmology department and the infectious diseases ward. In a 1929 contract with the hospital, they pledged to conscientiously treat the sick, regardless of religion or nationality. Only physically and mentally healthy nurses who were citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic, had practical experience or a two-year nursing qualification and could speak the state language and the second regional language were allowed to work at the hospital. Nuns over the age of 60 did not perform any work. The sisters were exempted from having to work in the department for male venereal diseases and were not present during births and miscarriages. They received a monthly salary of 563 to 640 Czechoslovak crowns.
The nurses’ residence is a fine example of early modernist architecture with many surviving structural details and elements. The original building, which had an irregular ground plan roughly in the shape of the letter L, has been somewhat lost beneath layers of subsequent additions. The two-storey building is clearly defined by the outline of its high mansard roofs, which were once crowned by a small tower with a cupola in reference to its religious function. One architecturally distinctive feature is the window design: the windows on the ground floor are small and rectangular, while the upper-floor windows of the former chapel, with their tall, intricately articulated and arched design, are the building’s dominant architectural element. This pattern is repeated on the polygonal triple-bay oriel on the building’s eastern elevation. The building’s volume is accentuated by a continuous stone socle topped by a brick stringcourse; the ground floor and upper floor are separated by a cordon ledge running along the building’s circumference. The facades are smooth, with decorative elements limited to rectangular panels underneath the first-floor windows. Projecting from the side facing Mendlovo náměstí is a modernist cylindrical avant-corps. Built to house a staircase, it features lunette windows and a conical roof.
The most significant interior space is the nuns’ former chapel on the first floor, illuminated by the tall arched windows. The surviving original stained glass on the inside window panels features brightly coloured bands of geometric ornament and white four-petal flowers. The stained glass was produced by the most celebrated Brno glass manufacturer of the time, Benedikt Škarda. The presbytery with an altar dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was originally situated inside the three-sided oriel. The original interior doors have been preserved, as have the decorative floor tiles with the motif of a white Greek cross and vegetal borders, which were made by the renowned Brno company of J. Lichtenstern.
The construction of a northern addition in 1936–1947 led to the disappearance of the northern gable elevation and the building’s original entrance. The newly expanded building was given a uniform new look in the form of rough textured lincrusta plaster, which somewhat altered its architectural expression. After 1990, a gatehouse to the hospital complex was added, which today adjoins the building. At present, the building houses administrative offices, and the former chapel has been converted into an auditorium for students of Masaryk University’s Faculty of Medicine.
Pavla Cenková
