Královo Pole 1918–1945

The medieval village founded in the valley of the Ponávka River along a royal road (present-day Poděbradova Street) leading from Brno to Svitavy witnessed the greatest upswing after 1844 when it received the status of township. Industrial production was concentrated there in this period and Královo Pole became the most dynamically growing town around Brno. In addition to the important Královo Pole engineering plant, there were also several prosperous brickworks, dye-houses, a brewery and several other small factories. Later, other major companies such as Alpa and the Applied Arts Company set up their plants in the area. The importance of Královo Pole is also evident in the tramway connection with Brno commissioned as early as the mid-19th century. Its route ran along the newly built "imperial road" (present-day Palackého Street) lined by new development entirely urban in nature. A local railway line (Brno - Tišnov line) was set up in the area in 1885 and carried mainly freight. The same period also saw the road network expanded to include new links to the neighbouring Žabovřesky and nearby Husovice.

The importance of Královo Pole and its ambitions rose in 1905 when it became a town. A regulation plan involved a comprehensive concept for future development and the building of the new urban structure west of the original centre (present-day Mojmírovo náměstí) commenced before the outbreak of World War I. Slovanské náměstí was set up along the road leading to Žabovřesky with the axis of Husova Street and a complete street network in its vicinity. However, the development was first limited to the immediate surroundings of the square and the greatest building boom did not take place until after the war, when Královo Pole, together with other villages and towns, was incorporated into Greater Brno.

Královo Pole was Brno's best developed and, for a certain time, most populated suburb in the interwar period. However, it suffered, like the rest of the city, from a fatal lack of apartments. This situation was addressed by housing cooperatives, which could implement large-scale building projects thanks to various loans and support from municipal, provincial and national authorities. In this way the Obecně prospěšné stavební a bytové družstvo pro Královo Pole a okolí (Generally Beneficial Building and Housing Cooperative for Královo Pole and Surroundings) managed to build tens of terraced houses and apartment buildings (delimited by present-day Vodova and Tyršova streets and the residential estate between Dobrovského, Vackova, Prkyňova and Charvatská streets) by the mid-20th century. The second half of the 1920s witnessed the completion of almost all street blocks along Žabovřesky Road (present-day Skácelova Street), including two mirrored corner buildings by architect Jindřich Kumpošt which form a monumental gateway to the new avenue (present-day Husova Street) and the newly designed park in Slovanské náměstí.

Brno faced a new shortage of apartments in connection with the economic crisis after 1929. In this period, makeshift estates with shacks made of recycled building materials emerged spontaneously and without any permits from the authorities. Královo Pole saw the emergence of the so-called Divišova čtvrť (Diviš Quarter), dubbed Shanghai. Like many other such estates, this quarter reflected the critical housing conditions affecting the lower classes. Therefore, the 1930s focused on affordable apartment buildings built by housing cooperatives or private building companies. The affordable housing apartment buildings are scattered adjacent to Slovanské náměstí between Skácelova, Purkyňova and Vodova streets. However, development projects did not avoid empty areas created after Královo Pole's incorporation into Greater Brno. The cooperative estates Stavog and Blahobyt replaced the former military installations (present-day Tábor); the Dvořák and Kuba private building company then used the plot of the cancelled and demolished Moravia Brewery near Lužánky Park (present-day Staňkova, Střední and Vnitřní streets).

The interwar development in Královo Pole represented a separate location with comprehensive architectural and urban planning regulation and scarcely affected the historic centre of the area. However, the structure of the town changed significantly as a result of the transfer of the original railway in 1941 and subsequent construction of the new station north of the axis of Slovanské náměstí. In this way, Královo Pole became part of the main railway line connecting Prague, Brno and Bratislava, and subsequent building development shifted northwards.

Name
Královo Pole 1918–1945

Length
KM

Number of objects
14

Trail Starts Here
Štefánikova 123

First object
Apartment building
C282

Public transport
Kartouzská (TRAM 1, 6)
Štefánikova (BUS 67, 81)

GPS
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