In 1904, Dr. František Hora, Karel Andrešek and the builder Josef Müller purchased three small one-storey houses on what was then Franz-Josef-Strasse and replaced them with two new five-storey apartment buildings according to plans drafted by Müller. Brno’s town council granted Hora a building permit for no. 12 on January 1904, and by October that year construction was completed. Josef Müller and Karel Andrešek’s neighbouring building at no. 14/16 was built in 1905. At the time, the grand new buildings were still surrounded by older low-slung buildings at nos. 8, 10 and 18. This unusual contrast within the urban fabric of Milady Horákové Street is a small-scale illustration of the dynamic first quarter of the 20th century, when the face of the entire broader city centre was being transformed.
The buildings’ authentically preserved facades are an example of the introduction of the geometric Vienna Secession’s visual forms into the local landscape. Both buildings are interpretations of Hubert Gessner’s District Sickness Fund, whose architectural form Müller creatively changed and transformed to produce a remarkable building ensemble. The right-angled grid of the strictly symmetrical facade is softened by the use of floral motifs, and the light colour of the variously textured plaster contrasts with the vibrantly coloured ceramic tile ornament. The uniqueness of Müller’s extraordinary architecture rests in the contrast between the sober modernist geometricity and the exuberant colours of the rich décor. The main elevation of Hora’s building is nearly identical to Gessner’s District Sickness Fund, except that it is less distinctly vertical, being one floor lower and slightly wider, with more heavily accentuated horizontal lines. As with Gessner’s building, the six-bay facade is visually dominated by two polygonal oriels on the lateral window bays, each topped by a balcony with an elaborate wrought-iron railing featuring geometric Art Nouveau motifs from Vincenc Urbanovský’s workshop. A strongly protruding crown cornice rests on a row of corbels, its soffit decorated with colourful floral ornamentation. The understated décor, done in the style of geometric Art Nouveau, is founded on the use of textured plaster fields resembling banded rustication and the use of terracotta-brown and green ceramic tiles. Some of the tiles, which are arranged singly around the facade, feature a geometric ornament in the form of a stylized rose flower. Numerous interior elements have survived, including the stuccowork, brightly coloured ornamental ceramic tiles and Art Nouveau wrought-iron stair railings. Inside the entrance, a vestibule leads to a double-flight staircase facing the courtyard. Each floor has two identical apartments. The only non-standard layout was František Hora’s first-floor apartment and doctor’s office. The two interconnected five-room apartments on the next floor up were at the time occupied by Count Adam Romer, who had moved to Brno from Nový Jičín in 1904 when he took on the post governor’s council. After 1945, the prominent architect and artist Ludvík Kolek lived and worked in the building for many years. It is still in the possession of the Hora family, although its owners had to endure the communist era, when it was placed under the administration of the District Housing Management Enterprise. By the early 1990s, the building was in critical condition due to a long-term lack of maintenance. The original owner’s heirs nevertheless managed to renovate it, and the interiors and exteriors underwent a comprehensive heritage-sensitive renovation in 2008.
Josef Müller and Karel Andrešek’s building (Milady Horákové 14/16) has a similar composition and details as its neighbour at no. 12, meaning a geometric facade with bands of textured plaster and scattered ceramic tiles. It nevertheless is one storey higher, and the polygonal oriels are placed closer to the middle of the building. Between them, the staircase inside the central bay is illuminated by large windows on mid-flight landings. This central window bay is complemented by an arched loggia set into the trapezoidal gable reminiscent of the roof superstructure on Gessner’s District Sickness Fund. As with Hora’s house, the entrance is fully framed by ceramic tiles, except that here they feature a distinctive motif of large geometric flowers whose stems are shaped into typically Art Nouveau smoke-like curves. The house has an authentically preserved commercial parterre.
Karel Andrešek, the co-owner of no. 14/16 died shortly construction was completed, and in 1906 the property was co-owned by Josef Müller and Anna Andrešková. By 1911, Josef Müller was the building’s sole owner, and in 1918 the house was bought by Siegmund and Leontine Cohn. In 1922, it was acquired by Josef Feldmann, who still owned it in the mid-1930s. The building was renovated after the year 2000.
Pavla Cenková
