Mindful of the hygiene of its citizens, the rapidly developing industrial city of Brno of the 19th century built a network of municipal public spas, which substituted for the commonly absent bathrooms in the city’s housing. In 1860, Diana’s Spa was established in the city centre, on land that was formerly the garden of the Church of St. James. It was modernized and enlarged in the years 1905–1907 to a design by the architect Hubert Gessner. The spa was designed primarily for the middle and upper classes and offered steam treatments, showers and baths. However, the spa building was badly damaged by bombing at the end of the Second World War. Only the reduced perimeter walls and remnants of the internal layout, including swimming pool, remained.
The post-war restoration significantly simplified Gessner’s facade and lowered the building by one storey. The pool was reconstructed, probably in its original dimensions, as was the area surrounding the pool. Some architectural details from the original building were preserved in the interior, such as the geometrically segmented ceilings of the pool area and the main staircase with railings, whose horizontal bars ended in winding volutes. Only after the year 2000 was the original form of the facade restored in a monument restoration based on historical photographs.
Hubert Gessner was one of the most prominent Moravian pupils of the Vienna Secession architect Otto Wagner. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gessner’s style brought elements of modern geometric Art Nouveau to Moravia, which can also be seen on this spa building. The lower storey of the facade is separated by a monumental bossage strip, and the protruding upper floor is borne on a sharp lace-like cornice. The character of the facade was also augmented by the geometric composition of window panes and balcony grilles, and by the massive chambranles of the arched windows on the upper floor. Although the original facade was more decorative, its current form, marked by the reconstructions of the second half of the 20th century, has successfully rehabilitated Gessner’s architectural work.
MKr