On 16 September 1880, a decision was made to establish the first ‘state lower secondary school with Slavic language instruction’, with plans to gradually expand it to include the upper secondary level as well. Initially housed in the former Johann Putterlik sugar factory building on Křenová Street, the school quickly outgrew its spaces as the number of students increased. At first, the school rented and adapted additional rooms on Čechyňská Street, then an extension to the main building was considered, and finally, in 1898, the Ministry of Culture and Education approved negotiations to find a suitable site for a new school building in a different part of the city.
The Regional School Board proposed two possible locations on Antonínská Street. The first was on the corner of what is now Kounicova Street (on the site of today’s Janáčkovo náměstí), and the second, which was eventually chosen, was at the western end of the former municipal cemetery. Based on plans presented to the school board on 9 June 1899, the technical department of the Moravian governor’s office produced initial design sketches of the new building, but the actual building plans were not approved by the ministry until 12 April 1902, with the stipulation that the school must be completed by the beginning of the 1903/1904 school year. The completed building was officially certified on 12 September 1903 and given over for use via a decree issued on 25 September.
The plans were authored by the builder Antonín Tebich and the architect Vladimír Fischer. The latter was a professor, dean and later (in 1931–1932) rector of the Czech Technical University in Brno. The First Czech State Secondary School is an example of Fischer’s early work, although it does show a shift away from the romantic historicism of his town hall projects in Fryšták (1900–1901) and Tišnov (1905–1906) and towards an eclectic combination of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau elements – which appear on school’s facade as well as in its interiors.
The building’s symmetrical three-wing layout, with a staircase at the centre of the main entrance and street-facing classrooms, follows the commonly used school building layout of the era. On the other hand, its extraordinary importance is reflected by the monumental design of the main elevation facing Botanická Street, which is dominated on both sides by sgraffito work done by the Czech painter Jano Köhler. (A few years later, Fischer and Köhler also collaborated on the neighbouring Swedish House B120.) The building was particularly important in relation to efforts at promoting the Czech national identity in predominantly German pre-war Brno. These efforts were also reflected by the symbol of the Czech lion in the shield above the main entrance. The sgraffito depicts allegorical figures related to the education and upbringing of children. On the right are an angel holding a lamp and four children’s figures representing nature, art, music and faith. The scene on the left is dominated by the figure of an elderly man in aristocratic dress holding a human skull. There are scientific instruments in the background and three child figures at the man’s feet – an allegory of the triumph of science and education. Underneath the sgraffito are commemorative inscriptions with the date of the school’s founding (1880) and the building’s completion (1903).
The school’s common areas were designed in a similarly grand manner. Several original elements have been preserved in the hall inside the triple-door entryway, including the stucco decoration on the walls and ceiling and some of the original decorative floor tiles. The monumental staircase is dominated by decorative columns with a shell motif, arcaded loggias and, on the top floor, stuccowork and decorative lights on top of supporting pillars. The schoolyard was significantly altered during a 2022 renovation project, when the original gymnasium was removed and replaced with a new building that did not respect the school’s original architecture.
Except for the First World War and part of the Second World War, when the building served as a military hospital or was occupied by the Nazi Schutzpolizei, the building has exclusively been the seat of some form of educational institution. During the German occupation, the school was made a ‘realgymnasium’, and after the war the building housed the Dr. Vladimír Helfert Gymnázium alongside a gymnázium (grammar school) for working people, a secondary school and a ‘national school’ (primary school). In 1953, these schools were merged to form the Eleven-Year Secondary School, but after 1961 the building housed only a nine-year primary school, and today it is home to a primary school and preschool. In the 1950s, the school’s capacity was increased through the construction of two low-slung pavilions, the so-called ‘Školičky’ (Little Schools), in the garden of the former seminary across Botanická Street, today the rectorate of Brno University of Technology. The pavilions were demolished during the rectorate’s renovation in the final years of the 20th century.
Karolína Králiková
