František Sander

František Sander studied building construction at the Czech Technical University in Prague and then worked as a lecturer at the department led by Professor Jiří Pacold. From 1907, he was a teacher at the state technical secondary school in Prague–Smíchov where he became head of the department in 1919. He was a brilliant draughtsman and designer and a popular teacher. In his early work, he used his thorough knowledge of the morphology of the historical styles, eclectically interpreting them and adding a romantic air to his projects. His projects included, for example, the reconstruction of the medieval brewery U Fleků, where he designed picturesque wooden bridges, porches, and yard extensions. As an expert in joinery, Sander also designed the interiors with murals decorated by painter Láďa Novák. Together, they also worked on the project for the U Glaubiců restaurant in Lesser Town, Prague. In 1906, Sander designed a villa in Luhačovice for Councillor Alois Samohrd. The housed with many neo-Gothic features, including a tower, was decorated with Novák’s graffiti inspired by Mikoláš Aleš’s paintings.
 

Sander was also influenced Art Nouveau decorative style and later, he found his inspiration in moderate modernism. His architectural work was primarily related to his membership in the Commission for Sewerage on the Elbe and Vltava Rivers. He designed various construction projects that were built on the two rivers before WWI and between the wars, for example, hydroelectric power plants, lock gates, weirs, lock chambers, navigation, river bridges, and other water works. Sander’s buildings and other designs were characterized by an unconventional concept referring to nautical symbolism – their shapes almost always resembled ships, lighthouses, or harbours. For decoration, he used stone, iron and concrete structures, various surface materials, colourful ornamental elements, and colour that also gave his project a specific ring. Thanks to his approach, Sander gradually created an original style of water works, combining modern operational functions and a nostalgic air. Between 1909 and 1912, he designed a new weir and a power plant on the Elbe River in Hradec Králové, which was a unique example of the Art Nouveau technical aesthetic in the Czech lands. In the same manner, Sander designed a power plant on the Orlice River between 1913 and 1915, which was more contoured and less ornamental. He also designed the dynamic Art Nouveau bridge over the Elbe River between the settlements of Plácky and Věkoše, built at the very edge of the city between 1911 and 1912. The originality of Sander’s projects can be also seen in the small bridge spanning over the original bedrock of the Piletický Creek, built near the local swimming pool in 1914. In the 1920s, Sander designed the changes of the Jewish (now Dětský/Children’s) Island at the waterfront in Prague–Smíchov. Sander enjoyed travelling and visited many countries in Europe, America, and Asia. His visit to the United States seems to have inspired him to design modern solutions for technical parts of his structures. He died of a stroke when he was overseeing the construction of his own house. He was remembered him as a “quirky, direct man, and architect from the generation of honest tech workers”. [1]

 

MP

 

Notes

[1] Architekt Frant. Sander. In: Národní listy LXXII, 12 January 1932, No. 12, p. 3