Zprávy památkové péče 2018, 78(6):590-603 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2018.6.05

Ladislav Machoň (1888-1973)

Martina Koukalová

Architect Ladislav Machoň (1888-1973) studied at a Prague technical school, but the lack of creative instruction there brought him to the studio of the founder of Czech modern architecture Jan Kotěra in 1909. He worked on his projects and also represented him several times as a site supervisor. From 1914, he worked as the head architect at the Law Faculty, which he built after Kotěra's death (1924-1931). Even though he executed his first works, he finally set up his own studio in 1917 and, unlike many others, he did not manage to establish himself before the outbreak of the First World War.
After the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia, he still built smaller buildings in the spirit of Cubism but soon moved on to rondocubism. When designing family houses, he still remained faithful to the style of the late modern with an emphasis on tectonic elements. In 1923, he started designing for Pardubice and he also won a long-standing contract for rebuilding the Clementinum for the university library.
Around the mid-1920's, Machoň's buildings were inspired by the unplastered masonry and the absence of décor in Dutch modernist architecture. He later began to return to a simple and pure articulation of buildings typical for purism.
Ladislav Machoň's presentation of functionalism did not lose its artistry for the most part, and he remained subdued in his expression in comparison to the younger generation. Even though the ground plan changed on his buildings, with diminished walls, the windows never created a continuous belt and retained their articulation.
The global economic crisis resulted in a significantly reduced number of orders for everyone. Ladislav Machoň became a member of the State Regulatory Commission, participated in competitions, sat in many juries, and mostly realized interiors. In 1933, he met the left-wing architect Augusta Müllerová, who he employed from 1936 and who, after his divorce in 1947, became his second wife. During the occupation, the couple participated in the preparation of the exhibition "For New Architecture" and also worked in a number of resistance groups.
Machoň's membership in the Czech National War Council, as well as his later political activities and engagements in the renewal of construction activities, were probably one of the causes for his arrest in 1952. The official pretext, however, was Machoň's pre-war membership in the Freemasons and his endeavor for its post-war renewal. It is for this reason that he was later sentenced in a fraudulent process for "joining the counter-state conspiracy center".
Although he was politically rehabilitated after a series of peripeties in 1960, he had to work until he was very old. The unclassifiable nature of his work and his political transformations resulted in his work remaining unprocessed for many years, despite his immense amount of realizations.

Keywords: Ladislav Machoň, architecture, curriculum vitae, Augusta Müllerová, Jan Kotěra - pupils

Published: December 1, 2018  Show citation