Pobřežní ulice / Pobřežní Street

Pobřežní Street follows a path near the left bank of the Mže River – the former break in the terrain above the no-longer-existing river meander – heading from the former villa of Emilian Fischer along past Peklo Culture House, behind which it is crossed by the high-capacity Jízdecká Street, continuing further in a slight bow between the firehouse, the parking house and the Plaza shopping mall, finally emptying at the boundary between Palackého Square and Přemyslova Street.

In the early 19th century, after the city walls had been torn down the mayor Martin Kopecký established his private garden with a Classicist garden house on the site of the present-day Peklo Culture House (C2–2220). The area located south of Pobřežní Street was then gradually filled with suburban industrial and residential development over the course of the 19th century. In the years 1880–1886, the Neo-Renaissance Fischer’s Villa with two spires was built, which has constituted one of the dominant monuments of the space until the present day. In the same period, an association of Pilsen Social Democrats bought the garden allotment, planning to found an administrative and social centre for the party. This intention was realised gradually – firstly, a building with a large hall was built in the years 1905–1906 and Fischer’s villa was reconstructed; later, the entry building with a cafe with a view of Lochotín was added in the years 1937–1939.

After the flow of the Mže River was straightened in the 1920s and the river meander disappeared, a municipal exhibition grounds at the place of a former dump (C2–2861) was constructed almost parallel with the extension of Pobřežní Street up to its present length. The functionalist building of the former City of Pilsen firehouse and the local Red Cross branch (C2–55) dates back to 1932–1933. This is an extension of the Rost Farmstead complex, which was founded here near the edge of a steep slope above the Mže River before the year 1781 and has been used as a firehouse since 1913.

The changes commenced in the 1960s had a truly devastating impact on the area. First, the whole housing block opposite Fischer’s villa and houses adjacent to the villa were demolished – almost parallel with the demolition of the 35th Infantry Barracks – in 1967. Subsequently, Antonín Zápotocký Bridge (now General Patton Bridge) was built and put into operation in 1972, connecting the city centre with the Northern Suburb area via a high-capacity road. Next, a parking area in front of Peklo was established in the space of the one-time garden in the vacant corner lot. Part of the Prague–Nuremberg motorway route was planned along the Mže River, however a high-capacity road was constructed here instead in the 1980s leading below the Peklo Culture House and further along Jízdecká Street, which meant a further disruption to the whole urban structure and an insensitive interruption of Pobřežní Street.

The complex of the city showground was gradually demolished in the years 1997–2005 to be replaced by Plaza shopping mall in 2006–2007, along with a parking house and an amphitheatre on the bank of the Mže. In 2014, the building of the New Theatre was completed, whose supply section and entrance to the underground parking face Pobřežní Street. Thus, the chance to create a good-quality public space between the buildings of two important cultural institutions was squandered.

JČ – MK

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