Today’s school building stands on the former site of a hospital with a chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, which had stood on the north side of today’s Křenová Street since at least the 14th century. The hospital, which was later merged with a neighbouring military hospital and transformed into a poorhouse, was demolished in 1908–1910. On the land cleared by the demolition, chief city architect Franz Holik (1874–1943) planned a small square with a fountain and a symmetrically laid-out urban ensemble dominated by the Church of the Immaculate Conception, with identical school buildings (boys on the left, girls on the right) on both sides of the church. In the end, however, only the church (1910–1914) and the boys’ school (1909–1910) were realized, both of them built to commemorate sixty years of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph in 1908. The Emperor Franz Joseph Boys’ Middle School (also referred to as a ‘folk and burgher’ school or as the German Jubilee Folk School for Boys) was founded in 1909 and initially operated in temporary premises on the third floor of the elementary school on Zvonařka Street. Instruction in the new building at Křenová 21 began in the 1910/1911 school year, as commemorated by a plaque in the school’s lobby with the date ‘25. IX. 1910’.
The monumental school building situated perpendicular to Křenová Street clearly dominates the piazzetta in front of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Though it lacks a prominent central axis, its main elevation is composed symmetrically, with three four-bay avant-corps topped by mansard roofs. The taller central avant-corps was originally crowned by a metal grille in the shape of the imperial crown, which was removed after the end of the monarchy. The two equally prominent entrances located in the recessed bays between the avant-corps are accentuated by identical pediments with stylized stucco Art Nouveau décor containing floral and abstract motifs that also appear elsewhere on both street-facing elevations. The rear facade, visible from afar because of the low neighbouring building, is significantly simpler in design.
The interior of the building is dominated by the original triple-flight staircase with a metal railing repeatedly decorated with a stylized number 60 in reference to the emperor’s jubilee. The same motif also appears on the ceiling in the middle of the staircase in the form of diamond-shaped stuccowork with the number 60. Both entrance halls have stuccowork with dark red painted highlights on the walls and ceilings. The building has a dual-pile layout with a corridor at the rear and classrooms and teacher’s offices overlooking the piazzetta. The southern part of the building has a triple-pile layout with a corridor in the middle flanked by classrooms on both sides. This distribution of rooms is also reflected on the facade. The gym is situated in a separate lower wing on the north side of the building.
Although Holik’s description of his project mentioned that the client wanted a simple design, the result is a monumental school building whose volumetric composition was visibly inspired by Neo-Baroque architecture, although its decorative programme tends more towards the formal vocabulary of Art Nouveau. Holik’s Viennese origins and his training under the famous Otto Wagner at the Academy of Fine Arts are clearly evident. He took a similar approach to the German Higher Secondary School at Kounicova 16 (1909–1911, B116), which is similar in terms of composition and style to the Jubilee Boys’ School.
The German Jubilee Boys’ School operated in the building until the early 1920s. After 1919, the building housed various forms of girls’ elementary or primary schools – first a ‘folk’ school (obecná škola) and, after 1960, a ‘basic’ school (základní škola). Today, it is used by a primary school and preschool. In 1919–1936, the building also housed a higher trade continuation school for metalworkers. During renovation works in the 1990s, the roof and facades were repaired, and the windows and interior doors were replaced in line with the requirements of heritage preservation.
Karolína Králiková
