Zprávy památkové péče 2015, 75(3):211-218

Heritage approaches at the peak of the modern era: third competition for the reconstruction of the Old Town Hall in 1909

Ladislav Zikmund-Lender

This article deals primarily with competition proposals selected in the third contest for the completion of the Old Town Hall and the historicisms, traditionalisms, romanticisms, and classicisms that allowed their heritage conformity. Even though only the historicist and conservative proposal of Antonin Wiehl in the Neo-Renaissance won, notable contributions to the inclusion of survivalism and revivalism in modernism were mostly from the proposals of Pavel Janák, Alois Dryák, Bohumil Hübschmann (Hypšman), and Antonín Engel. The proposal of Theodor Petřík, awarded second prize, also integrated the palatial type with a high pilaster order and arcade loggias as well, but the greatest quality was achieved by the very precise respect to the existing visual and communication axes, the existing materials, and the most significant points (the Marian column, the planned Hus monument, and the westwerk Tyn Cathedral). The issue of why the megalomaniac competition project, designed by Josef Gočár, was unsuccessful in its acceptance is also addressed.
Other competitions in 1938, 1946, 1963, 1966/1967, and 1987 showed a gradual divergence of original creative opinions on what is contemporary and what is historically acceptable in such a symbolically exposed historic environment. This was demonstrated particularly in the last and eighth event in 1987 which included proposals of contemporary, abstracting symbolic forms (proposal of Emil Přikryl and the team of Alena Šrámková), and historicist proposals that complemented the original appearance (proposal of the Pavlík spouses and František Kašička, or of Václav Alda and Pavel Kolíbal). The third competition in 1909 is inspiring for the present mainly in the fact that the proposals were (perhaps except for the winning Wiehl's proposal) utterly contemporary and original while simultaneously historically conformist, and managed to moderately capture the symbolic and representative form, corresponding to the constructional type of the Town Hall and the historical significance of the site. Few from the contemporary architectural scene are able to design this sort of connection harmoniously, and unfortunately very few are even able to handle an architectural task of a public building in a historic environment without slipping into purposeless historicism or generally into architectural bad taste.

Keywords: Old Town Square; Pavel Janák; Josef Gočár; Theodor Petřík; Antonín Wiehl; architectural competition; Town Hall; building typology

Published: September 1, 2015  Show citation