Společnost stavitelů s.r.o.

The Association of Builders was formed as an industry consortium to bring together major local builders in the early post-war years.

As early as five days after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, Mayor František Ulrich was informed of the possibility of transferring the Directorate of State Railways to one of the outside Prague. Ulrich was instructed to negotiate with central authorities to move the Directorate to Hradec Králové. This was finally negotiated in February 1919, with conditions including arranging 300 flats for railway officials until 1921. The influence of Mayor Ulrich apparently brought together seven local builders who founded the Association of Builders (Společnost stavitelů), namely Josef Jihlavec, Josef Novotný, Josef Fňouk, Robert Schmidt, František M. Černý, Jan Kraus, Václav Rejchl, and his son, Václav Rejchl, Jr. The Association then won the tender for the construction of fourteen municipal buildings. Other work related to the equipment of the flats was entrusted to associated tradesmen (from the associations of plumbers, stove fitters, etc.). The total cost of this first municipal construction project was 9,000,000 Czechoslovak crowns. The construction was also inspected by President T.G. Masaryk during his visit to the city on 11 October 1919, accompanied by the chairman of the Association of Builders, Josef Jihlavec. The first municipal construction project provided 130 flats; the second project was a little smaller. 

According to later reports, the Association of Builders built a total of 44 municipal and cooperative residential buildings; so far, 30 of these houses have been identified. At the end of 1922, there was probably a fundamental split and the Association broke up the following year. In his memoirs of 1944, Václav Rejchl, Jr., described the operation of the Association and his leaving as follows: “After World War II, my father no longer carried out his projects alone and in 1919, he joined me to become a member of the Association of Builders, which was established at the time, and became senior chairman of the supervisory board. [...] We had a lot of work then and since I was responsible for the ‘purchase of building materials’ in the Association, I travelled a lot. Since later, the German saying ‘Kompanei – Lumperei’ seemed to apply to this Association, both my father and I remained its members only until spring 1921, when builders Schmidt and Kraus left the Association as well.”

The director of the municipal technical office, Karel Friedrich, recollects the connection between the town hall and the builders as follows: “Thanks to timely prepared projects, the city immediately began with intensive construction of public housing in several waves once the law on the promotion of the construction industry was published. [...] In this building activity, especially in mass construction, the Association of Builders, which brought together most of the local builders to help them overcome post-war difficulties, was very useful.”

LN