In 1835, the philanthropist Jan Rafael Beitl founded the Institute for the Blind as the third educational facility of its kind in the Czech lands. Originally located in Zábrdovice, in 1846 the institute financed a new school building from the estate of businessman František Ess on today’s Žerotínovo náměstí. After moving to the new building, Beitl became the private institute’s director. Although the building on Žerotínovo náměstí (on the site of today’s ‘White House’) was expanded twice, in 1879 and 1891, in 1907 the provincial committee decided to construct a new building on the top of the hill in Černá Pole. The idea was to establish the largest institute for the blind in Europe, with the latest modern amenities – central heating, lifts, etc.
Work on the building’s layout was performed by the technical department of the Moravian Provincial Building Authority under the supervision of Josef Karásek. On the basis of these documents, in 1909 the builders Robert Krug and Leopold Kunisch were hired to construct the building. In 1912, an architecture competition was held for the facade design of the main elevation, with Theodor Macharáček winning both first and second prize. Third place went to the architects Jan Flora and Emil Králík, whose designs were integrated into the final version. The definitive construction plans – a synthesis of the winning competition designs – were subsequently drafted by the staff of the Moravian Provincial Building Authority, who added two floors to the original two-storey building and gave it an attic and a raised ground floor. Construction of the monumental building lasted from 1913 to 1915. The lavishly designed four-storey building quickly became a distinctive landmark on the hill in Černá Pole. The Neo-Classical facades with bossage on the ground floor are segmented by four Ionic pilasters at the corners and are finished with a distinctive roof cornice. The main elevation is dominated by a monumental portico with nine Ionic columns spanning three floors. The main entrance protruding from the building in front of and below this portico is inscribed with the dates 1912–1915. The roof above the portico was originally decorated with an imperial eagle and imperial crown. Upon completion during the First World War, the building was used mainly as a military hospital. The institute for the blind did not move in until 1918, but already in 1919 the University of Agriculture was granted a twenty-year lease on the left wing. In 1922–1923, the university premises were expanded with the addition of two new wings for the Faculty of Forestry, built according to a very conservative project by the provincial building authority under the supervision of Jan Utíkal (see BAM C321), whose design followed on that of the older building. In 1941, during the German occupation, the institute for the blind and the university were evicted, and the building was used by the Nazi Party and the police. Following the war, it was initially administered by the Czechoslovak armed forces, and after September 1945 it was used exclusively for the needs of the University of Agriculture (today the rectorate and various institutes of Mendel University).
Lucie Valdhansová
