A developer building project of its kind sprung up in the block between the streets Hruškova, Čermákova and Mánesova in the north-eastern part of the residential area Bezovka in the early 1920s. The client was the Trade-Civic Building and Housing Cooperative for Pilsen and Surroundings, registered fellowship ltd. in Pilsen of the brothers Josef and Václav Pašek. The pair also processed the building plans and Václav Pašek realised the construction. The projects of individual houses were created together and can be divided into three, respectively four types (1, 2, 2a and 3), from which semi-detached and terraced houses were formed by simple connections and combinations. The development is complemented by four detached houses (type 2), including, apart from house no. 9 on Čermákova Street, also the neighbouring building no. 28 on Hruškova Street (no. 2 Na Hvězdě Street) and the houses at no. 38 Schwarzova (no. 5 Na Hvězdě street) and no. 54 Mánesova Street. These houses could be – and usually were – influenced by future home owners, which made the project’s preparation more demanding.
The project of the house on Čermákova of May 1922 was implemented from November of that year to September of the following year. As late as in April 1922, during the course of approving the allotment of the entire block of buildings for this plot, a semi-detached house was under consideration. At the design stage it was replaced by a free-standing house for the family of the glazier Emanuel Lešetický, who was a so-called “aspirant” in the building cooperative. A two-storey house with a cellar and an attic located in the garden of the corner plot had a similar layout to other cooperative houses of the Pašek brothers. However, the project envisaged a more decorative concept of the facades, close to the geometry of Art Nouveau. The authors designed decoration combining simple geometric elements (curves and straight lines) and natural motifs (human heads and acanthus foliage). The area above the front door was to be taken up by a motif of two lambs, shown in profile, facing each other. Instead, quite large figural sgraffito with the motif of “Lešetínský kovář” (the “Blacksmith of Lešetí“), inspired by a late 19th century poem by Svatopluk Čech of the same name, complete with the inscription “Na Lešehradě“ (At Lešehrad – the similarity between the names of the owner of the house, Emanuel Lešetický, and the blacksmith of Lešetín was not coincidental). Later modifications to the object were only minor in nature. Thus the house at no. 9 Čermákova Street is among the best-preserved buildings in the elegant setting of Bezovka.
LR
Emanuel Lešetický / Trade-Civic Building and Housing Cooperative for Pilsen and Surrounds