House of Josef Špalek Sr.
1927

Mánesova 1816, 1817 / 85, 83 (Plzeň) Plzeň Jižní Předměstí
Public transport: Náměstí Míru (TRAM 4)
GPS: 49.7324894N, 13.3685911E
Architect:

A number of smaller houses arose in the south-eastern part of the Bezovka residential area on Mánesova Street in the late 1920s. The advantage of terraced houses compared to the villas opposite was the efficiency in the cost of both realisation and operation of the objects. The street front also involved the two mirror-symmetrical houses no. 85 and 83, in which the threefold role of the client, the builder and probably also the author of the project featured the energetic Pilsen builder Josef Špalek sr.

The double house on Mánesova Street is an example Špalek’s early Modernist production. The symmetrically arranged facades of both houses face each other with the staircase tracts bays, which – intersected by a distinctive cornice – rise up into the roof area with a narrow strip of windows. The geometric arrangement of the facades is underscored by the horizontal of the joint entrance awning, the short segment lines of window ledges and indicated chambranles on the site of the lintels. The strict lines of the stair tracts are balanced by the segmented shape of the pair of low bays windows, perhaps inspired by the neighbouring house no. 87 (C4–1700). Bay windows, protruding from the extreme parts of the first floor are broken by three narrow double-wing windows in the same rhythm that the author also applied on the elevated ground floor. Similarly, broader double-winged windows recur in the facade. The shapes of window openings imply the size and function of the interior space. Lighting of the cellars is provided by two barred openings and a large rectangular window; their glazing has since been replaced by glass blocks. Another non-original feature is the ceramic cladding on house no. 85. The remaining part of the facades, however, has retained its original appearance, including the darker shade of the plaster in the strip above the window ledges of the first floor.

 

LV – PK
 

Investor

Josef Špalek Sr.

Sources

  • Archiv Odboru stavebně správního, Technický úřad Magistrátu města Plzně