One way in which Královo Pole, ceremoniously elevated to city status in 1905, sought to show its importance and ambitions was through construction befitting a big city. Even before 1905, plans were developed for future urban expansion, with the main focus of construction on the area known as Devadesátka or Na Devadesátce, which the municipality purchased in 1908. The central axis of this newly developed territory would be a road running perpendicular to Palackého Avenue that would connect Královo Pole with Žabovřesky to the west. The newly laid-out streets and avenues would connect orthogonally and radially to this road in a striking geometric pattern. The new city’s heart would be a modern city park at Všeslovanské náměstí, with a grand urban thoroughfare lined with trees on both sides (Husitská Street) leading away from the square.
Implementation of the new urban vision began in 1908, and by the outbreak of the First World War, the buildings on Husitská Street and some buildings along the lower part of today’s Slovanské náměstí had been completed. In Královo Pole, elaborate apartment buildings from the first and second decades of the 20th century are thus most commonly found on Palackého Avenue and in this location. A typical example of local period architecture mixing late historicism with Art Nouveau is the five-storey apartment building on the corner of Husitská and Slovenská Streets. Both symmetrical street fronts have been composed using a balanced system of verticals and horizontals, with the prominent corner accentuated by a polygonal oriel topped by a turret. Both elevations also contain identically placed, subtly protruding avant-corps finished with Baroque volute gables.
The various facade elements are arranged in such a way as to emphasize the two-storey bel étage, which is separated from the other parts of the building by distinctive cordon ledges. In this zone, the facades of the avant-corps are accentuated by fluted pilasters, while the lateral window bays on both sides of the building are decorated by polygonal oriels with narrow vertical windows. A formal emphasis is also evident in the stucco décor – the windows on the first and second floors are visually joined by vertical framing, and the rectangular fields between them are filled with stuccowork depicting floral motifs.
The overall composition and layout of the facade is based on the classical architectural canon, and this traditional structure is complemented by rich stucco décor with the variegated use of Art Nouveau wreaths, ribbons and baskets of fruits or flowers (very popular motifs around 1910). One beautiful element are the metal balconies with typically Art Nouveau railings on the lower part of the avant-corps. The building has undergone a sensitive renovation and is currently in a well-preserved state.
Pavla Cenková