Bedřich Bendelmayer

Biography

Bedřich Bendelmayer graduated in decorative architecture at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague under Friedrich Ohmann, who successfully moved this educational institute towards modern European trends. Although the legacy of ancient architecture played an important role in Ohmann’s work, he was also considerably inspired

by later styles, such as Baroque and Classicism. Despite his use of the morphology of the historicist styles, Ohmann displayed a distinctive inventiveness and artistic decorativeness in his design. Later, he naturally responded to the impulses of foreign modernism and opened the door to Art Nouveau in the Czech lands. He was able to pass on his intuition and professional qualities to his talented pupils. One of them was Rudolf Němec, with whom Bendelmayer began his career. Together, they first realized the Belvedere tenement house

at the corner of Kamenická and Kostelní Streets in Prague’s Letná district and won the third prize in the competition for the Town Hall in Pilsen. In 1898, like other young artists, they experienced the turbulent atmosphere of the transformation of the fortress town of Hradec Králové into a modern metropolis. They designed a house for builder Viktor Weinhengst

at 310 Eliščino nábřeží Embankment, whose Neo-Renaissance façade already foreshadowed the character of Art Nouveau ornamentation. Bendelmayer then worked for Quido Bělský’s firm, where he met his former classmate Alois Dryák and together they worked on the project for the Central Hotel in Prague’s Hybernská Street, starter already by Bendelmayer’s teacher. At that time, Ohmann’s Art Nouveau had already fully dominated Bendelmayer's artistic repertoire, which was also manifested in the city center in the form of tenement houses in U Prašné brány Street (1903–1904) or the Archduke Štěpán Hotel in Wenceslas Square

(1903–1905). In 1904 Bendelmayer was dismissed after a quarrel with the owner of Bělský’s construction company, but he maintained a working partnership with Emil Weichert, who also left the firm. Together, they successfully continued to apply the Art Nouveau concept to

the façades of the tenement houses in Maiselova, Kaprova and Valentinská Streets until about 1908. Evidence that Bendelmayer also successfully managed the transition to geometric modernism is provided by his realization of a shop and tenement house in Anglická Street

in Vinohrady (1911) and a similarly conceived house in Ve Smečkách Street (1912–1913).

In the 1920s, Bendelmayer joined the important trend of Neo-Classical architecture, mainly applied in the design of public buildings. Of these, the monumental building of the former regional criminal court in Pankrác (1928–1930) or the Czech Industrial Bank in Na Příkopě Street (1927–1933) stand out. After WWI, Bendelmayer managed to break through professionally outside Prague as well – he built grammar schools in Jindřichův Hradec and Hlučín, court buildings in Klatovy and Chrudim, the Municipal Spa in Pilsen, and residential buildings for civil servants in the Slovak town of Košice. Over the years, he participated in numerous architectural competitions, winning top prizes, for example, for the design of the Nusel Bridge or the Živnostenská banka in Prague.

Other Works

1897–1899
Belvedere tenement house, 675 Kamenická Street, Prague

1899–1900
Central Hotel, 1001 Hybernská Street, Prague

1903
Archduke Štěpán Hotel (today the Evropa Grand Hotel), 826 Wenceslas Square, Prague

1903–1904
Commercial and tenement house, 1078 and 1079 U Prašné brány Street, Prague

1908–1909
Tenement houses, 20 and 22 Valentinská Street, Prague

1911
Commercial and tenement house, 390 Anglická Street, Prague

1922–1924
Josef Kainar Grammar School, 586 Dr. Ed. Beneše Street, Hlučín

1923
Family house, 606 Bubenečská Street, Prague

1925–1928
Regional (now District) Court, 138 Dukelská Street, Klatovy

1927–1933
Czech Industrial Bank, 854 Na Příkopě Street, Prague

1928–1930
Regional Criminal Court (today High Court and High State Prosecutor’s Office, 1300 Hrdinů Square, Prague

Literature

Archiv NTM, fond č. 156 Bedřich Bendelmayer, osobní pozůstalost
Prokop Toman, Nový slovník československých výtvarných umělců, I. A–K, Praha 1947, s. 52
Pavel Vlček (ed.), Encyklopedie architektů, stavitelů, zedníků a kameníků v Čechách, Praha 2004, s. 55

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