This prominent corner building was built sometime after 1913 and is definitely documented by 1915. It was built for František Kocman, the mayor of Husovice in 1912–1919. Construction probably began just around the time that Kocman took office, which was shortly after Husovice’s elevation to town status. It was probably designed by Valentin Hrdlička, who lists the building in his own catalogue of projects and who dated the drafting of the plans to the year 1913. It is one of the most interesting buildings in the residential area immediately adjoining Husovice’s Church of the Sacred Heart.
Due to the irregular shape of the parcel, each wing of the two-storey corner building is of a different design. Visually, it is dominated by its bevelled corner, which is accentuated by a five-sided balcony and a distinctive polygonal turret with a pyramid roof. The balcony parapet is decorated with recessed square panels, and the walls of the turret are divided into small square fields with clear and opaque (coloured) glass panels. The Třebízského Street elevation is symmetrical in its composition – the rectangular windows of various sizes are combined with the residential entrance into an effective geometric arrangement that culminates in a low triangular gable with an oval window.
By contrast, the side facing Vranovská is asymmetrical. Its visually distinct end section has arched windows on the ground floor and a high arched gable with a significantly overhanging cornice, while the two other sections closer to the corner are framed by prominent pilasters with capitals. The pilasters were originally rendered in fair-faced stonework, as was the entire corner section and the pilaster separating the corner section from the Třebízského Street elevation. Other facade elements include the use of alternating smooth and rough plaster, the sunken oval stuccowork inspired by Art Nouveau motifs on the apron walls between the window pairs on the ground floor and first floor and the four-by-four square fanlights above the regular windows.
When built, the building had a corner entrance to a shop on the ground floor. The owner’s three-room ground-floor apartment in the wing facing Vranovská was directly connected to the shop. Elsewhere on the ground floor and first floor, there were five one-room apartments (a room and a kitchen), which were rented out.
The building can be considered an example of eclectic architecture combining elements of late historicism and Art Nouveau, with a predominance of geometric modernism. This latter stylistic tendency is reflected not only in the sophisticated interplay of geometric lines and the symmetrical window arrangement but also in the distinct use of the square as a dominant and recurring motif (on the turret, the balcony parapet and fanlights, and the square shape of the large stone blocks on the original stone pilasters and window frames). Modernist influences can also be found in the volumetric arrangement of the corner section with the turret, which creates an unmistakable silhouette that is visible from afar. A similar modernist eclecticism also characterizes the architecture of the nearby Husovice church building, with which the striking corner house interacts very well.
After Kocman, the house was owned by a Mr. Kuba, who ran a dry goods store on the ground floor. In 1940 it was bought by Karel and Miluše Šmíd, and the building has remained in their family to this day. Its original appearance has been relatively well preserved, although, unfortunately, the stonework on the facades has not been restored.
Pavla Cenková
