Glass Institute

The history of the Glass Institute began as early as 1923 when it was founded as an institute of the Commerce and Trade Chamber in Hradec Králové, housed in the existing building no. 698, at the instigation of the Ministry of Trade. Due to the growing importance of research and laboratory activities in Hradec Králové (for example, the first Czech glass industry magazine started to be published in this city, as was Sklář a keramik (Glassmaker and Ceramist) magazine in 1950), architect Jan Rejchl was asked to design a new building for the Institute. The construction began in 1929 and the building was opened in 1931. 
 

The buildings of the Glass Institute and the District Chamber of Commerce were originally accessed separately from the courtyard passage but after the latter building was reconstructed in 1942, there was only one entrance. On the ground floor of the Glass Institute, there were two technical laboratories and the lobby. On the first floor, there were two major chemical laboratories and a preparatory laboratory with a hallway and the so-called weighing room where various substances were weighed. On the top floor, there was an office and a large room, the so-called optics room, where glass for optical products (lenses for telescopes or glasses) was made. There was also an exhibition hall (that would be now called a showroom) with a separate entrance. After the Glass Institute was opened in 1931, Jan Rejchl designed a large one-story annex, which housed offices, material warehouses, more laboratories, the janitor’s one-room flat with a kitchen, and a large, separately accessible multi-purpose hall extending over two storeys with a gable roof. Other facilities in the annex had a flat roof with glass skylights illuminating the laboratories.
 

The Glass Institute was higher than the neighbouring District Chamber of Commerce but after the reconstruction in 1942, the latter building was higher and the cordon cornice unified. In contrast to the more traditional District Chamber of Commerce (originally designed by Oldřich Liska), the Glass Institute was to represent both a modern concept of architecture and the glass industry, so the façade was covered with slabs made of milk epoxide. The attic was covered with sheet metal, originally with a luminous sign “THE GLASS INSTITUTE”. The building also had a now non-existent octagonal fountain.
 

The maintenance-intensive glass façade is not preserved; shortly after the war, it was replaced with brizolite plaster façade. Recently, the building has been covered with a layer of insulation.

 

LZL and Lucie Šťastná