Československé armády 27 Tenement house

Welcome to Hradec Kralove, a city that resembles a magnificent town salon. Right now you're standing in front of one of the very interesting houses in the Czechoslovak Army class. Stop for a moment, take a breath of the city air and look straight ahead. See this noble rental house? It is a building that carries within it the spirit of the beginning of the twentieth century and proudly reports that it belongs to the golden age of our city's flourishing. The first impression that radiates from the building is a sense of stability, elegance and a certain city luxury. It's a house that wasn't just built randomly, but had to express the status of its owner and the taste of its time.

Let's go back more than a hundred years together. Imagine Hradec Králové in the year nine hundred and thirteen. The city is developing, the streets are modernising and new ambitious projects are being developed. It was this year that Mr Josef Jihlavec made an application for a building permit. His intention was to build a three-storey tenement house, which was a very popular way of investing at the time. Such houses were used to rent housing and business premises, which provided the owner with a regular income. A year later, nine hundred and fourteen years later, the construction was completed. It was a fascinating moment when the streets of the city began to show the shapes that we now see as classic, but at that time they were the peak of the present. The house of Josef Jihlava the first thus entered the history of Hradec Králové just in the year when the world shook the first great war, which adds a certain dramatic framework to the creation of this building.

I now ask you to pay full attention to the architecture itself. Look carefully at the front of the house. What you see is not just an ordinary wall, but a carefully thought-out composition. The building presents a very interesting clash and at the same time a combination of several styles. Notice the elements of the Art Nouveau, which at that time was a symbol of novelty and elegance. At the same time, you will find elements of modern and neoclassicism. Neoclassicism manifests itself in the desire for order and return to ancient patterns, which is very clear in this house.

Look up at the facade. Your attention should be paid to six column canals. Kanelling means those fine vertical grooves in the body of pillars that create a game of light and shadows and provide construction of vertical dynamics and nobility. It's a detail that keeps the eye upwards. And when you look up, notice the statues of lions. Lions are a symbol of strength, pride and protection. Their presence on the facade gives the house the character of the mansion of someone important and influential. Flat awnings also contribute to the overall appearance, which previously protected the windows from the sun while providing a cosy, urban character. This whole set of details creates harmony that is typical of the work of architect Bohumil Waigant.

The name Bohumil Waigant is legendary in Hradec Králové. He was a man who could perfectly combine functionality with aesthetic beauty. His design for Josef Jihlava was not only about making the house stand, but about making the house talk. Waigant knew how to work with space and how to use details to keep the building from being monotonous. Antonín Waigant is also mentioned in connection with this site. Family tradition and vocational education have come together here in one of the most beautiful addresses in the city centre.

But when we look at the life of this house, we find that his fate has changed over the decades. The house wasn't just a place to live forever. In the year nine hundred twenty-seven there was a fundamental change. Bank for Trade and Industry bought the building. This brought with it internal modifications. The housing gave way to offices, administration and business meetings. The house became the center of financial flows and business decisions, which exactly matched its representative appearance. This transformation from the rental house to the bank house was a natural development of the city, which became the economic hub of the region.

This tradition of banking continued in the building much later. In the 1990s, the building was readapted to serve as the operation of the Commercial Bank. It is fascinating to think how many generations of people have passed, how many contracts have been signed and how many dreams of prosperity have been born in these walls. The house thus basically served as a silent witness to the transitions between various political and economic systems, from the first republic to the period of socialism to the current democratic era.

Now I'm going to lead you to one interesting thing that may not be visible at first sight, but it is crucial to the value of this place. Notice exactly where the house is. It is located in a very specific location, namely at the interface of the town conservation and its protection zone. This means that this building serves as such a bridge between the heart of the historic city, where protection is the hardest, and the areas that developed later. Thanks to this unique location and its architectural value, the house was entered in the list of cultural monuments in the year nine hundred eighty-one. This is a recognition that the building of Josef Jihlava is not only an old house but an invaluable part of the cultural heritage of the whole state.

When you're standing in front of this house today, try to imagine what this class looked like a century ago. Hear the sound of horse traffic, see the gentlemen in sausages and the ladies in long dresses walking past these lions and pillars. This house is like an open book telling us about the ambitions of the early twentieth century, the courage of architects to experiment with modern and how people's needs in urban space change.

Before we say goodbye and you go on, I suggest you go around the building again slowly or look at it from different angles. Feel how the impact of those canned pillars changes depending on the light. Try to imagine what it was like to enter this newly built house for the first time in nine hundred and fourteen years.

Thank you for taking a walk with me on this beautiful example of Hradec urbanism. I hope the story of the house of Josef Jihlava inspired you to take note of the other details that our town offers you. I now invite you to continue to explore other hidden corners and historical monuments of Hradec Králové. I wish you a pleasant journey and many new discoveries. Goodbye.