This architecturally and urbanistically distinctive massive corner building is one of Brno’s most valuable Art Nouveau monuments. It was built in 1905 by Franz Gokorsch (1866‒1930), a builder originally from Šternberk who over the following years built several more houses near the intersection of Francouzská, Vranovská and Cejl Streets, such as the neighbouring buildings at Vranovská 6 and Jana Svobody 3‒5 (1909‒1910) and the apartment buildings at Francouzská 105 and Francouzská 107 ‒ Vranovská 1 (1911).
The large apartment building sits at the triangular intersection where an important thoroughfare, Cejl, splits into Vranovská and Jana Svobody Streets, and it was designed so that its corner facing Cejl would stand out. The shape of the corner was probably inspired by Antonín Blažek’s famous Slavia Hotel, built by Antonín Müller in 1903.
The four- to five-storey building on a trapezoidal ground plan has three eight-bay elevations topped by a cantilevered cornice with a decorated soffit and an arched segment on the main elevation facing Cejl. The rounded corner towers have three window bays each, with a trio of diagonally protruding balconies bounded by Art Nouveau railings. The ground floor is visually accentuated by the use of banded rustication and arched windows. The windows on the upper floors are rectangular. A giant Ionic pilaster order runs along the first and second floors on the central part of all three elevations.
The facades are characterized by rich and variegated late Art Nouveau décor that playfully combines the freedom of the style’s floral tendencies with the rigor of the geometric Secession. With the free-spirited opulence of its ornamentation, the house – which can be ranked among numerous other local buildings done in the late Art Nouveau style – manifests a stylistic rejection of restrained approaches that are sparser in their decoration. The number of facade elements and the amount of ornamentation increases with height, culminating on the upper floors in circular reliefs, festoons and ribbons, areas of intertwining foliage, etc. The main entrance in the middle of the main elevation is framed by an Art Nouveau portal decorated with a pair female mascarons – mythical Medusa heads with twisted braids of snakes. The same theme can be found, among other places, on the facade of F. W. Schmeer’s 1905 building at Smetanova 53 (B121), which was designed by Vladimír Fischer.
The building’s overall design involves a visually impressive distribution of volumes and a certain tension between static and dynamic elements. The opulent Art Nouveau forms on the flat surfaces of the facade and on the building’s lower parts, which evoke a sense of solidity and sturdiness, are complemented by the dynamic elements of the balconies, the rounded bevelled corner towers and the extravagantly overhanging cornices. A similar approach can be found in the stucco décor, where the strict order of the geometric forms alternates with an ornamental diversity of shapes and motifs, with a particular focus on various intertwining forms.
In terms of function, the building provided a large number of small rented apartments, with pawlatsch-style galleries skilfully built onto the rear of the building facing the narrow trapezoidal courtyard. A restaurant on the ground-floor space along Vranovská Street had its entrance on the corner. The building was acquired by Jindřich and Gisela Weinberg in 1928, and in 1945 it housed state administrative offices. In the 1950s, the former restaurant premises were used for after-school programmes; after undergoing renovations, it re-opened in 1967 as the Na Vranovské restaurant. Today, the space houses the Pavlač drop-in centre. Thanks to a recent renovation, the Art Nouveau décor stands out once again.
Pavla Cenková
