František Hellmann

František Hellmann came from the family of the Písek glove-maker Jan Hellmann (97 Budějovická Street) and his brother Jan (1836–1908) was a judge of the Higher Regional Court and the Supreme Court in Vienna. After graduating from the realschule in Písek, František studied at the Prague Technical University (starting in the class of 1866/1867), where he also obtained the title of engineer. 

In 1879, his worked in Tvoršovice near Benešov, probably helping the architect Ullmann with the Neo-Renaissance reconstruction of the local chateau, bought by the ironworks businessman Jan Schebek. At the same time, Hellmann became a member of the Association of Architects and Engineers in the Kingdom of Bohemia. 

In 1882, he started working also as an authorized civil surveyor and moved to eastern Bohemia. After unspecified work in Hořiněves, he designed a sugar warehouse in Smiřice in 1885 and two years later, he designed most of the buildings at the Regional Economic and Industrial Exhibition in the town of Jaroměř. In 1888, he participated in the construction of the Jaroměř villa for Jan Náhlovský, and in addition to the construction, he is also credited with the Neo-Renaissance design of the building. He left other significant traces in Hradec Králové city as well. He was instrumental in repairing the bell tower of the Gothic Church of St. Nicholas, designed a grain warehouse, and designed the majestic building of the General Craft (Secondary) School in the Prague Suburbs, completed in 1906. He also worked in the vicinity of Jaroměř; for example, in 1897, a school was built according to his designs in the nearby village of Dubenec. At the same time, Hellmann received a plot of land in the developing peat spa of Velichovky from Baroness Berta Bess-Chrostina. He built Villa Jetty on it where he rented ten spacious and comfortably furnished rooms to guests. 

Before that, Hellmann designed his most important building in Hradec Králové – the Adalbertinum House for the Political Press Cooperative. In 1896, he designed four variants of the monumental solitary building, which was supposed to host various diocesan activities, especially publishing, accommodation, restaurants, and community events. The cooperative chose the form of a Neo-Baroque palace which was built in just over a year. 

Sometime after 1905, František Hellmann moved to Prague. He lived in Bubeneč in Čechova Street in a house from 1908 (No. 285); its eclectic façade with subtle hints of modernism makes one think that the successful man designed the home for his old age himself. Nothing is known about his other designs; however, we only know that he also worked as a forensic expert in Prague. He died in a sanatorium in Podolí in the summer of 1925.

 MP