Czech architects: luxury villas and Prague high school by Evžen Linhart
Evžen Linhart was an architect of the inter-war modernism (20s-30s of the 20th century), which aimed at purist-functionalist conceptions of buildings. He was energetic, active, yet most of his buildings remained unbuilt. It is a real pity.
The mover and promoter of purist architecture
His initial plans shocked with their harshness, functionality and purpose. But they were not deprived of elegance and luxury. That's fascinating about his buildings. Linhart's ability to achieve genius through clean and accurate lines. Ornament and decoration is the missing element, yet the building has a bold look. He based his ideas on the thoughts of the world-famous French architect La Corbusier. This led him to found the Purist Four with his friends.
A unique luxury villa in Dejvice (1927-1929)
We can talk about this house as the first functionalist building in Prague. Clean, bright forms are revived by, for example, a semi-circular balcony on the eastern facade, a glass terraced salon at the entrance, a staircase leading to the roof terrace at the northern facade. During the construction, the cost was increased and therefore the married couple Evžen and Ema Linhart were forced to rent the villa for 2 years to relieve themselves financially.
An honorable building for an esteemed secondary education institution on Evropská třída
The Beneš state high school, built in 1936-1938, is a protected building. Nowadays it is the location of the Pedagogical and Social High School. The basic layout of the luxurious building is the letter L and the decorative element is the pre-set section with the staircase. The luxurious school was in its time equipped with facilities such as a rooftop terrace, an observatory, spacious vestibules, lecture halls, and a large garden.
What else did Linhart build?
Prague is also adorned by another one of his luxury buildings – a residential building on Baba for the editor of Czechoslovak Radio, Eduard Lisý. The block of rental houses (an unusual example of a Mediterranean residential building) in Žižkov. He also carried out his projects outside of Prague – Václav Šlechta’s family house in Písek or the Collective House in Litvínov, the largest project realized in our country.
Simplicity the power, architect Linhart was driven by this motto all his life.
