Apartment building of Stavopodnik Manufacturing and Building Cooperative in Pilsen
1939

Undoubtedly the most imposing building in the western part of the street Na Belánce is the apartment house No. 13 commissioned by the Pilsen construction cooperative Stavopodnik and erected in 1939 by the local builder Rudolf Pěchouček. The author of the plans, evidently the builder himself, chose a combination of smooth “Brizolit" rendering and ceramic tiling, typical for Na Belánce, which together with shallow avant-corps breaks up the simple Functionalist facade. In contrast with the adjacent buildings, however, the Modernist look of the house is enhanced by a flat roof.

The first plans for the house were drafted in 1936, when the site was owned by B. and L. Salz. The Pilsen contractor Antonín Špalek created them in the spirit of local Modernism, but chose a conventional, centred, monolithic projecting section and a gable roof. After the house came into the ownership of the Pilsen construction cooperative Stavopodnik, the plans were revised and these typical formal elements were abandoned in the final draft. The author of the plans, probably Rudolf Pěchouček, designed a total of three narrow oriel-like projections – one on each side of the main facade and one on the gable end facing a small corner green area. He had all the projections and the surface of the parterre tiled with ceramic tiles, which he also applied inconspicuously to the window reveals. A prominent architectural feature consists of a protruding right-angled entrance portal, also tiled. The designer of the building employed a contrast of rounded and angular shapes, which is evident from the corner of the building: while the ground floor and residential part of the loft have rounded edges, the level extending from the first floor to the third is clearly defined by a sharp, right-angled edge.

The house contained a total of sixteen flats of various sizes – from studio flats in the basement and loft to two- and three-room flats on the other floors. The house was equipped with a modern electrical passenger lift and two garages in the basement.

Today, the building is in a good, conserved condition. The only discrepancy in its authenticity consists of replacement tiles of a different colour on the gable end.

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