Tenement House of Miroslav and Božena Hajniš

In 1925, the contractors Jaroslav Marvan and Karel Macháček, desiring to relocate from their residence at 279 Mostecká Street, envisioned the construction of a functionalist administrative and residential building on this plot. Architect Otakar Novotný, their collaborator, designed the project in the early functionalist style. The entire ground floor was intended to feature glass shopfronts and the stair hall was to be adorned with a glass strip. However, the project was ultimately abandoned.
 

On 14 June 1932, Miroslav Hajniš, a wholesaler of household textiles, linoleum, and carpets, was granted permission to construct a residential and commercial building. Construction concluded on 30 December of the same year, and the building was officially approved on 31 December.
 

The basement plans included a generous warehouse space for the Hajniš company’s textiles in the wing facing Máchova Street, a separate linoleum warehouse, and a distinct carpet warehouse in the wing facing the courtyard. In the wing facing Klumparova Street, there were (13) basement cubicles, a laundry, and a boiler room with a coke boiler and a coke warehouse. The majority of the ground floor – encompassing the tract facing Máchova Street and the entire corner – was occupied by Miroslav Hajniš’s store. Another tract labeled as “exposition” faced the courtyard, probably serving as a display area for textiles, carpets, and linoleum. Facing Klumparova Street was the main entrance, another shop with a warehouse, and a passage to the courtyard, where three covered garages were situated. The first floor featured a spacious apartment in the wing facing the street, presumably the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Hajniš. Three interconnected rooms facing the street, a smaller room facing the courtyard, and a kitchen with a separate alcove (possibly used as a maid’s quarters) comprised the living space. The entrance hall led to a separate bathroom with a bathtub, a pantry, and a toilet. Two smaller apartments were located on the corner of the street and Klumparova Street: a two-room apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, pantry, and toilet, and a one-room apartment with only a toilet and pantry. All rooms were smaller than those in the apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Hajniš. The second floor followed a similar layout, with one distinction: above the Hajniš family’s apartment was another four-room apartment, but with smaller rooms. Consequently, the neighboring apartment could have had three rooms, along with another two-room apartment and one one-room apartment. The third-floor layout differed again, comprising two small two-room apartments in the wing facing Máchova Street, two two-room apartments in the corner and the wing facing Klumparova Street, and another one-room apartment in the courtyard. In the attic, in addition to the two attics under the pitched roof, there were three small apartments: two one-room apartments facing the courtyard (both equipped with a bathroom, unlike the one-room apartments on the lower floors) and one two-room apartment tucked into the raised corner, completed with an apartment roof and the neon sign “Hajniš.”
 

While the tenement houses built throughout the 1920s adhered to an almost uniform standard of housing – typically two- to three-room apartments, predominantly equipped with full sanitary facilities – houses erected in the 1930s often featured apartments tailored to diverse social classes. The size, layout, and furnishings of the apartments corresponded accordingly. The Hajniš family’s residence exemplifies this trend. Its simple form, characterized by a smooth façade lacking articulation, punctuated by large shop fronts on the ground floor, and featuring substantial three-part windows without lining on the upper floors – closed only by a massive crown cornice, aligns with the influence of functionalism on the work of rural designers, as indicated by Josef Gočár's guideline plan.
 

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