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Zprávy památkové péče 2013, 73(3):259-262

The disappearing "Brussel style" at the Havlíčkův Brod train station

Ladislav Zikmund-Lender

The station building in Havlíčkův Brod was built between 1969-1981. During this period, the project, exceptional in its original form, underwent significant changes and devaluation of its original aesthetic values due to architectural practices of the time (lack of materials, delayed deliveries, and irresponsibilities due to author anonymity). In comparison to the original proposal, the station's final appearance was altered into a cumbersome layout of materials in the northwest facade and the facade facing the track. Nonetheless, thanks to the unusual interplay of materials on the northwest exterior with its concave curved glazing with irregular colored panels, and in the interior of the terminal building, we can classify its realization into the late Brussels style. The parts of the station with the highest quality heritage values are probably the departure hall with its wooden ceiling and the strong industrial aesthetics of the air conditioning system. After 1990, however, the original individual elements and materials were gradually destroyed and replaced by new, badly thought-out, and low-quality ones, and the functions of the individual public areas have been substantially altered due to the changing demands of the commercial use of railway buildings. This led to the cementing of the cascading pool in the middle of the hall, the discontinuation of the subtle staircase leading to the center of the hall, the thoughtless closing of the original light bar on the main floor hall, the disruption of the symmetrical balance of the grandiose faćade with the installation of the ATM, and the disturbance of the exterior with the installation of a robust non-transparent roof as part of the overall transformation of the area outside the station. Moreover, in 2006-2009 the extensive revitalization of public areas was planned which would deal a devastating blow to the remaining original aesthetics. The article uses specific examples to show how the gradual destruction and replacement of original elements of post-war architecture can have a fatal effect on the nature of (technical) monuments.