Mr. and Ms. Schmidt’s Tenement House

The construction of the tenement house at 535 Gočárova Street started in September 1912. It was completed on 22 July 1913. The owners were Robert and Marie Schmidt. Robert Schmidt was a prominent builder and real estate entrepreneur from Hradec Králové who collaborated with important architects such as Rudolf Němec from Prague. 

 

Contemporary records show that the house was exempt from the house tax. This was due to the decision of Mayor František Ulrich to “exempt new buildings and reconstructions from the house tax and autonomous surcharges” to solve the shortage of apartments and contribute to the development of Hradec Králové into a modern metropolis together with the sale of the land of the former city walls.

 

At the time of its construction, the three-story building consisted of four residential units with windows facing the street and the courtyard. Almost every apartment was built with quite superior facilities, including a utility room, kitchen, pantry, bathroom and toilet. On the ground floor there was a large apartment with three rooms and facilities. On the first floor there was another apartment unit consisting of three rooms and facilities. The second floor was divided into two residential units – an apartment with two rooms and facilities and a smaller apartment with one room and a sitting room (both without a bathroom). The basement was divided into five cellars with a laundry room and a poultry house was built in the yard.

 

The façade of the house was conceived as a simple geometric pattern. It is divided into two masses by a horizontal cornice between the ground floor and the first floor. The entrance door is located on the left side and there is an oval niche next to it. The upper part of the façade – the first and second floors – is divided symmetrically by four neoclassical pilasters. Their capitals are decorated with geometric ornamentation; the base is missing. There is a narrow geometric frieze above the pilasters. The dynamism of the façade is enhanced by the recessed central part; the illusion of depth is also supported by the shape of the windows in the central concave strip. The balcony on the first floor is decorated sparingly with only five lesenes with a narrow cornice.

 

Hana Matyášová