Milada Petříková-Pavlíková

Milada Pavlíková grew up in Tábor in a family of ‘progressive ideas and efforts’. These were held by Milada’s father Josef Pavlík (a local physicist and chief railway doctor, but also a revivalist, chairman of the Association for the Hus Memorial Construction in Tábor, and a very cultural man), as well as by women from Milada’s family, mainly aunts from the mother’s side, Anna Honzáková, the first Czech female doctor, and Albína Honzáková, a long-time co-worker of Eliška Krásnohorská who taught at the Minerva girls’ grammar school. Both of them were an example to Milada in the fight for gender equality, and their life and work inspired her to a great extent. Albína Honzáková was even her class teacher at Minerva. "Girls adored our class teacher and historian." Milada wrote about her aunt. "I am personally also attached to her not only by the family bond, but also by great gratitude to her as my teacher and a person whose noble character has so much influenced me in my youth."

The years at the Prague grammar school, and especially her history studies, also influenced the future direction of the first Czech female architect: "Historical lectures were followed by walks to museums and art exhibitions of the Mánes [Association of Fine Artists], etc., to old Prague palaces or private gardens. How much I liked going for the walks! The impression of such a work of art, whether it was a painting, architecture or something else, rooted in me and affected me. I was beginning to learn to appreciate the beauty of an artwork and truly perceive it with my whole soul. I think these impressions strongly contributed to the later decisions on my career, which was an unusual choice for a classical grammar school graduate back then. Architecture seemed to me as the most beautiful field, I liked it for its wide scope of activity and the fact that all the fine arts could merge into one there."

To deepen her knowledge in this field, Milada also attended lectures on art organized by contemporary associations, the Enlightenment Union (Osvětový svaz) and the Art Discussion (Umělecká baseda), especially by Zdeněk Wirth and Václav Vilém Štech. After graduating in 1914, she decided to take another step towards architectural education. The journey was not easy though, because studies at the Technical University were forbidden to women at that time. She was therefore first studying privately and without entitlement to a title. She wrote about her experience: “…At my father’s intercession with progressive Czech professors at Charles University, I was admitted as a private observer to the Czech Technical University. Since the autumn of 1914, with the benevolence of the professors, I could study, albeit privately, in the same extent as full-time students who have accepted me in a friendly way. [...] I attended the lectures, drew, worked on projects and successfully passed the exams and received private school reports without stamps for four years. I have repeatedly asked the Ministry of Education and the Imperial Council in Vienna for full-time study permission, supported by the faculty dean’s office and the rector’s office of the Czech Technical University in Prague and at the main intercession of a member of the Imperial Council, Professor Smrček from Brno. I was seen as a kind of ‘rarity’ at the university who received invalid school reports. [...] Today I marvel at my boldness and admire my optimism, but it was a kind of obsession that became the driving force of my studies.”

Milada Pavlíková was not allowed to study legitimately until the end of 1918, when she also obtained official recognition of her passed exams. Less than three years later, after successfully passing the state examinations (with honours, on 18 June 1921), she became the first Czech graduated female architect. The commission resolution corresponded to the then transformative times and social norms – both the letters “c. k.” (the Czech abbreviation for “Imperial-Royal”) and the pre-printed address “Mr. Candidate” in the form had to be crossed out.

Soon after graduation, Milada Petříková-Pavlíková (who accepted the surname Petříková after her marriage to architect Theodor Petřík) successfully entered architectural practice. Her first independent project was the “Home for Lonely Women”, originally serving as accommodation for older women and pensioners in Šolínova Street in Dejvice (1922–1934). At the same time, the project “Charlotte Masaryk’s Homeland” in Letohradská Street in Vinohrady was launched (1928, together with T. Petřík). “The homeland project,” the architect wrote in her memories, “[...] is as old as my third son. At that time, this project had a special appeal to me because the homeland was partly designed as a shelter for mothers with children. This issue is particularly close to me, and I would like to do more in this direction.” Her wish was to a large extent answered as she then worked on the Associational and Lodging House of the Czech Women’s Club in Prague, Ve Smečkách Street (1929–1933, with T. Petřík) and later a kindergarten and nursery in Prague-Lhotka (1947–1950, with J. Mayer). Petříková-Pavlíková also designed houses and interiors (for example, the interiors of the Girls’ Student Hall of Residence Budeč in Vinohrady, 1924), and she followed in her architectural work also with lectures and theoretical texts such as “Byt samostatné ženy” (The Apartment of an Independent Woman) or “Bytová kultura” (Housing Culture). She also published several popularizing articles – for example about nurseries or rational kitchens. As Marie Benešová noticed, in the architect’s work, we will probably not find a single work that would not deal with women’s issues and the related social, children’s or housing matters. Thanks to this emphasis on the systematic service for previously somewhat neglected groups, Milada Petříková-Pavlíková managed to achieve two important things. She enriched her field – architecture – with new perspectives, approaches, ideas and concepts; and she helped to create a better environment and conditions for the life and emancipation of women of both her and upcoming generations.

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