One of Husovice’s most impressive Art Nouveau facades is characterized by a perfectly proportional and balanced composition with numerous remarkable details and a distinctive dynamism that result from the tension between straight lines and curves, the geometric and floral décor and the sophisticated repetition of motifs.
The lateral window bays of the two-storey apartment building’s five-bay facade are framed by pilaster strips. The central triple-bay section rises above the rest of the building thanks to a large, distinctly protruding ledge. The two lateral bays are dynamically shaped by the interplay between variously arched volumes. Sitting atop their upper borders reminiscent of loosely hanging drapery are reliefs of coats of arms surrounded by wreaths and ribbons. The distinct modelling of these lateral axes is complemented by an abstract geometric décor, concentrated mainly in the areas above and below the windows, with the dominant motif of a rhombus in a sunken rectangular field. In the central part of the facade between the first-floor windows, this geometric décor is interspersed with a detailed vegetal motif – a pair of relief pomegranates with fruits. Reminiscent of traditional house signs, they are the building’s most visually striking, even ‘emblematic’ element. Below the attic ledge is a pair of circular medallions with the words ‘Anno 1908’. The curves of the first-floor window pediments mirror the shape of the drapery at the top of the lateral bays. The diamond motif from the apron walls is repeated on the wings of the original entrance doors, above which is the era’s typical tall fanlight with little square windowpanes. The door is framed by concentrically circles recessed into the facade and a slightly protruding archivolt covered with roof tiles. The same motif is repeated in the framing of the door’s visual counterpart, the arched window on the far right of the building. The recessed circle around the door is a reduced form of a typical Wagnerian Secessionist motif, which among other places can be found on the loggias on Brno’s most famous Art Nouveau palace, Tivoli.
At the time of construction, the relatively small building contained two one-room and two two-room apartments without bathrooms and with toilet facilities by the stairs. A bachelor’s unit in the attic was accessed along a short pawlatsch gallery. Small rental houses with such an interior layout were built to alleviate the era’s housing shortage, and not a residence for a well-to-do owner. Be that as it may, it is an exceptionally well-designed work of architecture, perhaps thanks to the fact that Vranovská and Nováčkova Streets – two parallel streets leading onto náměstí Republiky – were understood as streets of the ‘new era’, whose buildings should reflect local architecture’s big-city aspirations in relation to Husovice’s designation as a city in 1912.
Pavla Cenková