20th Century Architecture
Josef Gocar’s works (1880 – 1945)
Masaryk’s square (Czech: Masarykovo Namesti) is dedicated to the first President of independent Czechoslovak Republic. It is a famous urbanist project from the early work of Josef Gocar. The square consists of a semi-circular building of the formar Anglobank, which encloses a small park. In the center of the park you can see the above lifesize bronze statue of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk by Otto Guttfreud. The statue has its own history, it was first revealed in 1926, than removed by the Nazis in 1940, in 1947 revealed again, however it was melted down in 1953, in 1990 the statue was symbolically casted in bronze and revealed to remind of the “Daddy Masaryk”. Surrounding streets annularly branching out of the square are center of the city’s pedestrian precinct, which is nowadays mostly used as a shopping area. He was the author of annual municipal plan for many years, so he was able to reconstruct many of the city’s main roads and connect them into the Urban Road Ring and thus dragging the traffic of of the center. The Ferroconcrete Stairs, connecting The Velke Square and the Komenskeho Street are one of his minor productions from 1920’s. Their reparation was finished in 2007. He also designed the so-called school block, where you can now find the J.K.Tyl High School. In his era, the city center was moved away from the historical center, where the building weren’t providing enough room for the municipal clerks. According to his plan, the Ulrich Square was completely reorganised, the Directorate of the State’s Railways was built next to the palace of one of the most important manufacturers, Steinsky-Sehnoutka. It is now used as the residence of the Police Front Office. His masterpiece was the Municipal Council building, formerly Finance Office and the District Council. All around the city you can find plenty of his other minor works, such as the Priest Ambroz’s Congregation, where the masses of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church take place, the Engineering School, former Technical School of Tanning. He was undoubtedly one of the best Czech architects ever lived, his works are still admired not only in Hradec Kralove, but also in other cities, mostly in Czech Republic, but also in other countries. In 1926, he was awarded the Ordre de la Légion d’honneur, the highest order of France.
Other architects’ work
Hydroelectric power station was built in 1909 –1912 by Frantisek Sander, as a Secession building fitting in the atmosphere of the early 20th century, but also to use the embanked river Elbe for making electricity. However, it became obsolete soon, nowadays it is protected National technical monument, providing picturesque atmosphere for a picnic. The Steinsky-Sehnoutka Palace, mentioned above in connection with the Ulrich Square, was designed by the architect Otakar Novotny. After the death of its original owner, it changed its purpose several times. Today it is a regional headquarters of a banking house. City’s Baths, constructed according to the plan of the designer Oldrich Liska in 1933 are still very popular, some like its architectonically interesting exteriors, some like its swimming-and-relaxation concerned interiors.
