The city block at the intersection of Klatovská Avenue and the square Chodské náměstí, bordered on the other three sides by the streets Havířská, Hřímalého and Thámova and consisting mainly of 19th century Historicist buildings, acquired a fresh architectural addition in 1933 with the Modern commercial and apartment building of Jan Matoušek and his wife Anna. The successful Pilsen construction entrepreneurs gave the job of drafting the plans for the house, set on an exposed site on the corner of Klatovská and Havířská, to the local architect František Němec Jr. They also implemented together other investment projects on the opposite side of the busy boulevard in the vicinity of Na Belánce Street.
The construction of the fairly massive three-storey house with a sloped roof and a facade articulated by a large avant-corps launched not only collaboration between the Matoušeks and František Němec, but also modern Functionalist development in the immediate vicinity. The shell of the house is distinguished by the contrasting textural and visual properties of the materials used, typical of Němec’s work – smooth “Brizolit” renders on the elevated projecting sections of the facades and the window cases and coarse ceramic tiles on the receding parts of both street-facing facades. A no less effective contrast is that between the rounded edges of the projecting sections and the sharply chamfered corner, emphasised by an interrupted cornice that consistently follows the ground plan of the building.
While the parterre of the house originally contained five commercial units with large display windows and in the rear section a modest caretaker’s flat, each of the upper floors held three identical two-room flats and three-room flats with standard layouts and a housekeeper’s area. The basement held storage spaces and cellars for the flats.
The building has fortunately escaped any significant construction interventions that would detract from its original architectural appearance or overall layout. The authenticity of the building is further supported by the preservation of apparently minor details, such as the double-leaf main entrance door on Havířská and wooden, relatively deeply set windows with their original articulation.
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Jan Matoušek and his wife Anna