Jan Zídka

Architect Jan Zídka was one of the most important representatives of Hradec Králové architecture and urbanism after WWII, along with Jan Rejchl, Václav Rohlíček, Břetislav Petránek and František Steiner. He graduated from the Industrial School of Construction (1939–1943) in Hradec Králové and then went on to the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague he graduated in 1949. He was greatly influenced by architect Jan Sokol who managed to keep the standard of education at the school – which was not closed because it did not have the status of a university – even during the war. However, he was removed from the school after the 1948 coup. [1]
 

After graduation, Jan Zídka joined the Hradec Králové branch of the East Bohemian Stavoprojekt company; since 1951, he worked in a new urban planning group with Václav Rohlíček and Břetislav Petránek. His first task was to design school buildings in the Orlická kotlina housing estate; since 1956, he worked with the urban planning group on the new zoning plan of Hradec Králové. While Břetislav Petránek focused on designing the new housing estate Labská kotlina II, Zídka was responsible for planning two housing estates in the north-east of the city: Silesian Suburbs South and Silesian Suburbs North. Urban planner Jiří Krátký describes the housing estates as follows: “The height level of the buildings ranges from ground-floor to thirteen-story houses, so there was no overlapping of historical landmarks. [...] In terms of housing, the Slezská–Jih (Silesian–South) section, where the various types of houses are set in an environment of suburban villas, gardens, and mature greenery, is generally well rated. The composition of the housing estate allows nice views of the greenery around the Orlice River and the Novohradecké forests.” [2] The zoning plan, completed in 1962 but updated and elaborated until 1975, envisaged the construction of large housing estates in the south-western part of the city (Labská kotlina II), in the north-eastern part of the city (Silesian Suburbs) and in the southern part (Moravian Suburbs). The city was thus divided into four units: I – the city inside the second ring road, II – Prague Suburbs, Farářství and the Labská kotlina housing estate II., III – Silesian Suburbs, and IV – Moravian Suburbs and Malšovice. Zídka designed and executed the Silesian Suburbs between 1959 and 1969; he also designed the civic amenities. In 1967, he designed the Alessandria Hotel which became a high-rise landmark of this part of the city Then he designed the Černigov Hotel in 1968, which was built between 1969 and 1975. It is the most important work of Jan Zídka and probably the most important monument of post-war architecture in Hradec Králové. The monolithic slab building of the hotel with a wide base, a large multilevel ground floor and rich greenery stands out for its elaborate architectural detail and openly follows the principles of interwar avant-garde architecture. The 583-guest hotel with congress and restaurant facilities ranks among the most important and modern hotels of its time: the Olympik Hotel in Prague–Karlín, the Thermal Hotel in Carlsbad, the Bohemia Hotel in Ústí nad Labem, and the Parkhotel in Prague–Holešovice. Between 1962 and 1968, Jan Zídka headed the urban planning studio of the local Stavoprojekt company. Subsequently, he worked in the A11 studio at the reorganized design institute until 1987, when he retired. In 1968–1969, he designed the safari in Dvůr Králové nad Labem, and in 1973–1974, he participated in the project of the redevelopment of Prague Suburbs, which was to be transformed into a new industrial, commercial, and social district. Dukelská třída Street was to be the site not only of the Prior department store, but also of a theatre (which was never built). Zídka also prepared an initial material study for the Prior department store. In 1960, together with Jan Rejchl, Milan Rejchl, Břetislav Petránek and Karel Schmied, he took part in a two-round competition for a radio building on the site of today’s Vrbenský Barracks. [2] In 1971 he joined a group of designers to take part in a competition for the Polabiny housing estate in Pardubice, which was eventually won by a team led by Jan Krásný and Miloš Návesník. [3] In 1980–1984, he collaborated with architect Václav Misík on a project for a new congress center in the area north of the city spa, where several competitions had already been announced for a radio and theatre building. The congress center with a capacity of 1230 seats and 5100m2 of exhibition space was built between 1987 and 1991.
 

Although Jan Zídka retired in 1987, he worked as the chief architect in the Office of the Chief Architect of the City Hall between 1992 and 1995. In addition to his architectural and urban planning activities, he was a member of the Association of Architects, the planning commission of the City National Committee and the commission of the Czech Artists’ Work Fund which also awarded commissions for art in public space. Despite his significant mark on the architecture and urban planning of the city, he was not a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.   

 

LZL 
 

(Based on biography of Jiří and Lenka Zídka)

 

Notes

[1] Comp. Martina Pachmanová; Markéta Pražanová (ed.), Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze = Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague: 1885–2005, Prague 2005.

[2] Jiří Krátký, Urbanistická kompozice Hradce Králové, Hradec Králové 1990, p. 95.

[3] Ladislav Zikmund-Lender, Struktura města v zeleni: Moderní architektura v Hradci Králové, Hradec Králové 2017, p. 261.

[4] Comp. Vilém Lechner, Obvodové centrum Pardubice-Polabiny, Československý architekt, 1971, vol. XVII, No. 2, p. 4; Miloš Návesník, Pardubice – výstavba a přestavba města, Architektura ČSR, 1972, vol. XXXI, No. 10, p. 473–487; Miloš Návesník – Jan Krásný, Polabiny – sídliště města Pardubic, Prague 1971.