The Army Corps Headquarters with Two Villas

The reorganization of the army, launched in 1935 and initiated by the worsening geopolitical situation in Central Europe, resulted in the establishment of seven command corps in case of peace. The headquarters of the second corps, created to defend the north-eastern part of the Czechoslovak border and coordinate the construction of fortification in this area, was stationed to Hradec Králové and soon, it had a generous new building.

In 1936, architect Jan Rejchl designed an unusually monumental building of the headquarters of the Second Army Corps. The object was built on the site of a former fortress ravelin and copied the symmetrical layout of the demolished building. The layout of the building has the shape of a circular sector, which underscores its monumental character with a convexly curved and rhythmically articulated façade. The façade is divided into lesene frames extending along three and four floors in the central tract respectively. The entrance avant-corps with a portico on six pillars, as well as the foundation wall are faced with bluish granite. The exterior facing the courtyard has a purely utilitarian, almost industrialising form with large window panels. During World War II, the building was confiscated by the Gestapo and it housed a military hospital. After the war, Jan Rejchl adapted the building to the seat of the Medical Faculty of Charles University, which is located there even today.

In the interior, many original features have been preserved such as staircase railings, unusual modernistic lightings combining brass and frosted glass, and cladding on the columns and walls.

The complex included two villas for officers, symmetrically placed next to the monumental headquarters building. In the cubic objects, there were flats for officers, utility premises such laundry rooms, drying rooms, and a boiler room with the caretaker’s flat; the two villas had a large roof terrace. The villas were built according to the ideals functionalist housing, as evidenced by large windows and two respective recessed loggias on the first and second floors at the central axis of the street façades. On the other hand, the symmetric exterior and the foundation wall lined with red longitudinal tiles imitating brickwork show the architect’s tendency to conservative forms.  

LZL