Dům Ottokara Katzera Department store

Welcome to Šumperk. You are standing in front of one of the most interesting buildings on Main Street, which stands out from the surroundings and tells the story of ambition, modern and brave. The home of Ottokar Katzer stands before you. If you look at it for the first time, you might be interested in its purity, its straight lines, and the feeling of lightness that it brings into this space. It is a building that, even after many decades, looks fresh and detached, as if it was ahead of its time.

Let us now stop at how this building was built and in what context it was built. Let us move in time to the year one thousand and ninety-eight. It was at this time that the architect Ernst Hantschl settled in Šumperk. He was a man with a clear vision who brought new views to the region of what a modern city should look like. Two years later, in the year one thousand thirty-nine, this house was completed. However, it was not a building from the very foundation as it might seem. The whole project was created thanks to the radical reconstruction and the extension of a much older house. This bold move was decided by the local husband and wife of Leontine. Imagine the courage they must have had when they decided to turn their old family home into such a modern and unshakeably different object.

Now pay attention to the architecture itself and to what you see right in front of you. If you look at the overall composition, you'll notice that the building is not just an ordinary house. It's a synthesis of several directions. The dominance that you perceive when you look at the facade is the central cubic window. It is this element that gives the house its unique character and rhythm. The architect Hantschl combined the principles of functionalism, new things and elements of expressionism. What does that mean in practice? It means that the building was designed to be primarily practical and useful, but at the same time it should express a certain feeling and dynamics. Notice how the spatial parts are laid out. The whole concept was multifunctional from the beginning. The building was not meant to serve only one purpose, but combined business premises for shops, space for doctors and residential areas. It was a small urban ecosystem where the working and private lives of the people intertwined.

When we think about the people who were connected to this place, we can't forget Ottokar Katzer. He was a shoemaker's master, a man of craft, but he wanted to live in modern times. Together with Leontinet, they created an assignment that enabled architect Hantschl to create his most important work throughout the region. It is fascinating to think that the craftsman from Šumperk wanted to have a house that reflected the latest trends of that time. Architect Hantschl left his trail here, which he kept until the end of World War II, when in the year one thousand and ninety-five had to leave Šumperk.

Now I'm going to lead you to one interesting thing that will help you better understand the spirit of this building. If you have ever visited Zlín, you may notice a similarity. This building from the year one thousand thirty was inspired by the Zlín architecture of Bata. At that time, Zlín was a symbol of a modern industrial city where it is betting on efficiency, light and clean forms. The fact that these influences got all the way here to Šumperk shows how strong the wave of modernization was and how open its founders were to new ideas.

But if you look around the house, you'll notice some contrast. In the year one thousand and ninety-seven, a building of a brutalist-style store was built on the next parcel. It's an interesting visual clash of two different era modern. On the one hand, we have the lightness and elegance of functionalism from the interwar years, on the other hand, the raw and massive nature of later times. This contrast helps us to see how the view of the beauty and usefulness of buildings changed over the decades.

Stop for a moment and look again at the cubical window and the clean line of the house. Imagine what this house looked like in the year one thousand and thirty, when it was a new thing in the street, and it was likely to bring out both astonishment and discussion among the people of the city. It was a symbol of a new beginning and a belief in progress.

Dům Ottokara Katzera remains tangible proof of the golden era of modern architecture in our region. It is a place where trade, trade, and art met to design space to serve a man, but also inspired him.

Thank you for accompanying me to this brief interpretation. Now you can look at the details of the facade in peace and perceive the atmosphere of this special place. I invite you to another walk through the city and discover other hidden treasures of Šumperk. I wish you a pleasant rest of the day and a pleasant experience while researching the surroundings. Goodbye.