František Janda

Architect František Janda graduated from the Jan Kotěra’s architectural studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Before World War I, he worked on projects of spa buildings in Poděbrady. His post-war projects were more varied. As one of the first architects of his generation, Janda was inspired by architectural avant-garde, for example, the Axa Hotel in Prague designed by engineer Jaroslav Polívka in the international style in 1927. In 1928, František Janda designed the finish of the façade of house no. 456 in Lesser Town, Prague. Although it features modern forms, the jambs, cornices and unplastered brickwork on the top floor indicate an effort to adapt the façade to its historical context. In 1932–1933, Janda, together with architect Ladislav Čapek, designed a tenement house at 426 Újezd Street in Lesser Town, featuring a business parterre and a frontal oriel with rounded corners and continuous cornices. The house for Emilie Waldeková-Kmochová in Hradec Králové, with the same exterior features on the street façade, was designed in the same period. In the late 1920s and during the 1930s, Janda participated in many competitions, mainly for provincial schools, but only his design of a school gym in Železný Brod was carried out in 1929. After World War II, he did not work on any more designs.

LZL