Printing house of “Český Denník” / Bohemian Daily
1911

The building of the Bohemian Daily newspaper (the present-day printing works NAVA printing, Ltd.) bears evidence of the sustained industrial character of the Doudlevce district, where a great number of technical buildings found their place during the boom of Pilsen as an industrial centre. The object also reflects the long tradition of the modern-day printing industry in Pilsen, dating back to the 1870s, when local businessman Jan Robert Port bought the printing shop from Ignatius Scheible along with the newspaper “Plzeňské noviny” (Pilsen Newspaper), published since the year 1864.

Porta’s heirs merged the venture with the printing shops of Josef Císař and Theodor Vento, founded Printing and Paper Industry Works and decided to build a new headquarters. The first project of the two-storey reinforced concrete building situated on the corner of Hankova and Plovární Streets was developed in 1911 by the Pilsen building company Müller & Kapsa. Despite the industrial character of the building, topped with a flat roof, its cladding was originally articulated with ornamental attics and relief Art Nouveau decor with typical owl mascarons, some of them preserved to this day. The building housed a bindery, a composing room, and engine and boiler rooms. However, the layout was based on a rectangular two-storey hall, where graphic presses were located. This space giving the impression of a large glassed-in parlour was lined with reinforced concrete "arcades" with open polygonal arcs.

After 1948, when the company was nationalised and operated under the name Graphic Works Pour et al. Pilsen, National Administration, numerous modifications took place which disturbed the original architectural character of the building, for example in the press vestibule reinforced concrete "matronea" were glazed over and the originally integrally glazed segment roofing was divided by six balks, among which narrow skylights protruded distinctly.

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