Dům čp. 693 Dukelských hrdinů Tenement house

Welcome to Holešovice. Right now, you're standing in front of one of the very interesting houses of this neighborhood, specifically the building with the number six hundred ninety-three on Dukel Hero Street. Look at this massive corner object standing in front of you. It is a three-storey rental house, which in its size and appearance dominates this corner of Prague seven. The first impression of the building is a sense of stability and elegance, which is exactly what the author of the building wanted to express.

Now let's look at how this house came into being and at what time it happened. The building was built in a thousand eight hundred and ninety-four. To understand its meaning, we need to move back more than a hundred years. The end of the nineteenth century was a period of great bloom for the region of Holešovice and the Drum. Prague was growing sharply at the time and new neighborhoods were rising together. There were so-called tenement houses, which were large buildings designed to rent apartments. It is this house that is a great representative of the time when the city was modernising and expanding its face.

Now pay attention to the architecture itself. The house is brought out in a Neo-Renaissance style. If you look up at the facade, you'll see it's not left empty. It's richly decorated. Notice the plant ornaments that are wound up on the walls, and also putti, which are those little alligator figures of children that give the building lightness and playfulness. Besides, there are paintings with heroic themes. These elements are not just an ornament, but have a deeper meaning.

Here we come to one of the most interesting properties of this house. The architecture of this house uses the principle of speaking architecture. This means that the decorations on the facade are not random, but they have the task of telling specific stories. It's basically like reading a book, but instead of paper, the author uses stone and paint. When you look at the building, try to find a narrative in these paintings and ornaments about the heroics and virtues that inspired people at the time.

Who was the author of this proposal? The architect Jan Zeyer is behind the project. Jan Zeyer was not the only creative member of his family at the time. He was the brother of a very important poet named Julius Zeyer. It is fascinating to think that while one of the brothers created worlds with words in poems, the other created them in space using architecture. Both brothers thus contributed to Czech culture, each in their own way. Other personalities, such as Antonín Wiehl, are also associated with this place, which shows that people from different intellectual and social layers have moved in this environment.

Let's stop by one of the interesting things you may have missed. Notice the space above the ground floor. It is here that a large part of the richest decoration is concentrated to attract the attention of bystanders and show the prestige of the house. The whole building is today registered in the Central List of Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic. This is not only a formal registration, but recognition that this house represents an important contribution to the development of the entire Holešovice-Buben district. Without such buildings, today's Holešovice would look completely different and lose their historical identity.

When you stand in front of this house today, feel the atmosphere of a place where the history of the late nineteenth century clashes with today's rhythm of the city. It is a monument to the time when it was believed in beauty, in art and that even an ordinary rental house can be a work of art. The facade tells us about the ambitions of the people of that time, their appetite for life and the desire to surround themselves with beauty.

Take one last look at the details, the plant patterns and the heroic paintings. Imagine what this house looked like in a thousand eight hundred and ninety-four, when it was brand-new and perhaps the most modern building in the area at that time. It's a fascinating testimony about how our Prague was changing.

Now we can say goodbye to him. I hope that you are interested in this short trip to history and that you will take a sense of admiration for the work of John Zeyer and his ability to turn an ordinary house into a talking memory. I will now invite you to explore the area. Holešovice has up its sleeve yet many other hidden treasures that await your discovery. Go through the surrounding alleys, see the architecture of other buildings and look for clues of the past that will lead you further. Thank you for your attention and I wish you a pleasant continued journey through the city.