Park of the Institute for the Deaf and Mute

The Neo-Baroque construction of the Institute for the Deaf and Mute included extensive landscaping of the adjacent plot for growing herbs and vegetables and for convalescent stays for patients.

In the National Museum of Agriculture, three designs by František Thomayer for the landscaping of the park have been preserved. The Institute for the Deaf and Mute was built by architect Arnošt Jenčovský in 1901–1902, and Thomayer’s landscaping project are probably from the same period. The three design of plot of the shape of a rectangular trapezoid differ significantly.

The design inv. no. 77 divides the plot into a central promenade with a small pool and regular side fields. In the northwest corner, there is a picturesque corner in an English style, quite similar to the landscaping design of the garden of Trmal’s villa in Prague, created for Kotěra either by Thomayer or one of his collaborators. In the northeastern, sharp corner, Thomayer designed a circular area surrounded by a gravel path.

The design inv. no. 78 is conceptually the opposite of the aforementioned design. The central space consists of an English park lined by loose paths, and on the sides, there are smaller, regularly arranged parts. This concept is closer to Thomayer’s landscaping designs of public parks and features secluded places, vistas, etc.

Eventually, the owner decided for the first design, i.e. the central promenade and adjacent, regularly arranged areas surrounded by strips of shrubs. This is evidenced by period photographs. The park was abolished when a pavilion was added to the gastroenterology clinic, located in the building between 1955 and 2004, in the 1970s.

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