Ladislav Lábek’s house
1921–1922

The director and founder of the Pilsen Ethnographic Museum, Ladislav Lábek, was one of the leading cultural figures of the city. In 1921, he entrusted the project of his house in the villa district Bezovka to the architect Hanuš Zápal, with whom he shared not only an interest in historical monuments but also active efforts to protect them. Zápal prepared several variations of the design, all to be turned down in turn by Lábek. Thus the architect – in collaboration with another architect, Karel Ulč – finally based his design on the layout solution proposed by the client himself, who could not deny taking inspiration from Dutch and English villa architecture. The two-storey house, constructed by Lábek for his family, sisters and parents, was originally to include a two-storey representative staircase hallway by the entrance. Due to the high costs of this solution, however, this intention had to be abandoned, as his application for state aid under the Law on the Building Industry was rejected in Prague. Hanuš Zápal reworked the plans in almost no time, and in November 1921 the company of Josef Špalek sr. started their construction works.

Thanks to the exception which Ladislav Lábek managed to obtain from the building authority, the house, finished in the summer of 1922, is set back from the approved street line. Thus, this one-storey villa with a high hipped roof with dormers, running along the street tract down to the level of the ground floor ceiling, stands in a large garden surrounded by greenery. In addition to the aforementioned influences from English and Dutch architecture, the building clearly manifests Zápal’s tendency towards rational Modernism, characterised by a simplification of forms, a reduction in decorative detail to geometrised elements and, in this case, also the use of a combination of stone surfaces on the ground floor, bare brick in the window chambranles and colour-ingrained facade plasters. The irregular ground plan of the building towards Mánesova Street is further accentuated by a massive protruding avant-corps with the entrance hall and staircase, finished with a hipped roof. The second risalit on the side facade is roofed in a similar way. The main entrance is located in the corner between the risalits, sheltered by a marquise on a pillar.

Cellars and a laundry were located in the basement. The main entrance from the garden opened into the vestibule with a staircase, from where two spacious rooms, a kitchen, pantry and toilet with bathroom were accessible. The architect chose the same layout solution for the first floor, only with a third smaller room next to the staircase. The space below the roof was used as an attic and utility room. Josef Špalek sr. finished the construction in the summer of 1922, making some minor adaptations inside the house in the 1930s – partitioning the kitchen on the ground floor created a little room for the maid, and a porch and balcony upstairs were added facing the garden.

After the Czechoslovak coup of 1948, Ladislav Lábek was forced by the regime to retire from public life in the early 1950s. The house was to be confiscated and used as a kindergarten. Fortunately, this plan was dropped, the villa has been preserved in excellent condition and Ladislav Lábek’s descendants have lived there until the present day.

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