In the late 19th century and first decades of the 20th century, the lower western Lužánky slope in the immediate vicinity of Lužánky Park saw contiguous urban development in the form of luxurious apartment buildings along a newly laid-out avenue (today’s Kapitána Jaroše Avenue) and around the former Hutter’s Pond on the site of today’s náměstí 28. října. Grand late historicist residential houses also sprang up on Drobného (Sadová / Parkstrasse), Antonína Slavíka (Beischlagerova / Beischlagergasse and Na kopečku / Am Bergl) and Helfertova (U dětské nemocnice / Kinderspitalgasse). Construction in this part of the city reached its apotheosis on Schodová (Na schodech / Treppenweg or Treppengasse), which was developed in 1904–1906 by the builder František Alois Dvořák. An important Brno builder of the late historicist period, after 1900 Dvořák became interested in the idea of building an entire street of his own in the broader city centre. After he failed with a similar endeavour in the area around Kapitána Jaroše, Dvořák managed to partially implement this idea on Schodová, where he purchased a large garden property with the villa of Franz and Josef Adamčík, which had been built in 1863 as part of the city’s oldest villa estate in the area above Lužánky Park. Working with plans he drafted himself, Dvořák then erected a group of six uniformly designed grand apartment buildings in the pure forms of the Italian Renaissance. The newly laid-out Schodová Street was situated on a steep slope that was overcome by a long, wide staircase.
The group of six four-storey apartment buildings at Schodová 1–6 was composed in such a way that facing pairs were of an identical design. The strictly symmetrical facades feature Dvořák’s characteristic technique of raising and accentuating the ground floor. The two lower floors are thus always combined into a large base, and the remaining upper two floors are joined into a bel étage.
In terms of the history of architectural thinking, it is worth noting that on Schodová Street Dvořák abandoned the classical patterns of monumental decorative historicism in favour of more modern solutions. At the time, late historicism co-existed with Art Nouveau, but it was clear that its era was coming to an end and that modern architecture would evolve in a different direction. As a result, in his urban and architectural concept for Schodová, Dvořák chose to draw inspiration from the restrained classicist forms of Late Renaissance Rome.
The modest Neo-Classical facades of the two corner houses that define the beginning of the street are decorated only with circular portrait medallions, while the upper two pairs of houses are visually accentuated by the striking contrast between the banded rustication on the tall base and the smooth facades on the bel étage, which creates the impression of three-dimensionality and produces an interesting interplay of light and shadow. By their restrained grandeur, buildings in which classicism and the Neo-Renaissance exist in equilibrium evoke a modest elegance and feel like an attempt at being refreshingly contemporary. The choice of stylistic forms lent the development the atmosphere of a peaceful aristocratic enclave and thus embodied the ambitions and ideals of Brno’s middle class in their search for housing in the newly emerging luxurious residential district. Schodová Street thus forms a kind of stylistic counterpoint to nearby Antonína Slavíka Street, where Franz Pawlu built a similar, uniquely designed ensemble, except that Pawlu expressed similar ideas using the maximum decorative effect of Neo-Baroque forms.
The ensemble’s monumental composition is further enhanced by the colonnade between the two corner buildings at the bottom of the street. These solemn-looking propylaea with rich sculptural decoration form a gateway not only to the new street, but also symbolically to the Černá Pole neighbourhood at the top of the stairs. The structure has the character of a classical triumphal arch; it is divided into three sections, with a wider central and two narrower side passages. The columns and half-columns are finished with Corinthian capitals and a massive entablature that merges smoothly with the cordon ledges on both corner houses. On top of the colonnade is a terrace with a balustrade and a sculptural ensemble in the middle: the emblem of Moravia in a cartouche, flanked by a pair of seated allegorical figures. The male figure with a wreath in his left hand and leaning on an Ionic capital with his right hand may be an allegory of architecture, while the woman with a horn of plenty probably represents abundance and fertility. This sculptural decoration is complemented by classical statues on plinths on the corners of both houses. Drobného Street was an important promenade along the park, and Dvořák gave the elevations overlooking this promenade a grand scale and imperial character. By comparison, inside the gateway we enter the sheltered, intimate, closed space of an exclusive street lined by tall symmetrical facades. The result is an artistically extraordinary urban ensemble, an unusual narrow staircase-street rising up the hill from Lužánky Park that today is a characteristic visual element of the city and also an original gateway to Černá Pole.
Pavla Cenková
