Zprávy památkové péče 2015, 75(4):299-306

Heritage protection of prefabricated housing estates?

Matyáš Kracík

In the Czech Republic, there are currently only a few housing estates from the second half of the 20th century that are heritage protected. These are the estates Poruba in Ostrava, estate Vítězného února in Kladno, an estate in Havířov, and the estates of Labská kotlina 1 in Hradec Králové. The first three were built in the 1950's in socialist realism style. The Labská kotlina estate is from the late 1940's and ties into inter-war functionalism. All these estates were built using traditional brick technology. Based on several years of extensive interdisciplinary research on prefabricated housing estates, we would like to show that even these housing estates have historical value. Prefab housing estates represent a widespread realization that emerged based on progressive urban plans which reflected the international modernist tendency. They are therefore valuable as a testimony to architecture and urbanism. In the Czech Republic, these units form an entirely new type of city, fundamentally different from the previously known block developments of apartment buildings or neighborhoods of family houses and villas. Housing estates are also the result of socialist policies, without which such extensive plans could not have been created. It should be noted that after the Great Depression in the 1930's, architecture often gained more of a social than an artistic role. Housing estates should therefore be appreciated for their functionality, rationality, and new urban vision rather than for any traditional artistic qualities. The most important housing estates in the Czech Republic are Solidarita, Invalidovna and Ďáblice in Prague, Sítná in Kladno, Březenecká in Chomutov, Šanov 2 in Teplice, Polabiny and Dašická in Pardubice, Lesná in Brno, and Jižní Svahy in Zlín.

Keywords: Prefabricated housing estates, heritage protection, socialist realism, theory of heritage preservation

Published: December 1, 2015  Show citation