Josef Sedlák

 Architect and builder Josef Silvestr Sedlák was born in a small farmhouse at 21 Dubany near Prostějov on 1 January 1877. Both his father and grandfather of the same name were peasants, owners of arable land. His mother Marie came from Topolany near Brno. Probably because of the family connection, Sedlák went to study in Brno. He studied civil engineering at the German Technical University in 1899–1904, and his teachers and professors included Ferdinand Hrach, Alois Materna, Robert Bortsch, and Rudolf Tochatschek. Josef Sedlák was in the real estate business, renting estates, which is also the reason why he designed simple tenement houses in Čechova Street the Hradec Králové – he chose a concise form primarily for economic reasons. However, he was also inspired both by avant-garde architecture – which admirable given the fact he was 48 years old at the time of construction – and the conservative training he received at the Brno Technical University.