The late Art Nouveau apartment building on the corner of Francouzská and Stará Streets is an important work of the Brno builder Robert Krug Sr., who was born in Nový Jičín and began working in Brno in 1900. (His son Robert Krug Jr., born 1909, followed in his footsteps in the construction profession.) Krug was among those who turned away from radical Art Nouveau and modernism and returned to historicist forms. His buildings thus express an attempt at connecting historicist traditions with contemporary forms. This apartment building was built according to Krug’s plans on a prominent corner plot on the site of an older house. Krug was both owner and builder, and so the building was not just the product of his entrepreneurial success but also a manifestation of his construction expertise.
The two-winged, five-storey corner building has a four-bay elevation overlooking Stará Street and a two-bay elevation on Francouzská Street. The impressive volumetric solution was chosen with a view to accentuating the prominent corner, on which the architect placed a monumental triple-bay cylindrical tower topped by a helm. The facade’s horizontal and vertical articulation follows the traditional palace arrangement. Continuous balconies with balustrades separate the bel étage from the ground floor and socle zone below and the visually lighter uppermost floor above. The building’s monumental verticality is accentuated by a giant pilaster order and, on the dominant central part of the building, by three-sided oriels that give the overall composition a distinctive sculptural appearance. The striking stucco decoration consisting of a vibrant combination of stylized geometric and vegetal elements primarily makes use historicist or Neo-Classical motifs such as round discs and rosettes with leaf festoons, scroll cartouches, large flower baskets and decorative vases. The entrance from Stará Street is accentuated by a decorative portal that combines a variety of Neo-Classical elements into a single whole in an experimental search for a modern historicist style.
After the First World War, the building was acquired by Roland and Anna Ziffer. Today, it continues to serve as a residential apartment building, although its commercial premises are currently unused. The door and window panels and the colour of the facade have been changed over time, but the building has nevertheless retained its original late Art Nouveau character.
Pavla Cenková
