Townhouse with sgrafitto

The decision to build the imposing three-storey building on this prestigious plot on Husova Avenue, was taken in 1910 by the then glover, and later Jičin’s electronics pioneer, Čeněk Bělohoubek and his wife Anna, who owned the neighbouring property at no. 43. The building was designed and executed by the local master bricklayer and plasterer Josef Novotný. Its certificate of occupancy was issued the very same year.

This new building, designed with a cellar and as part of the terrace, was completed with a gabled roof. The design of its layout was essentially conservative. On the ground floor and the two stories above were separate apartments. The building did, however, have a rather generously designed entrance hall and stairwell, located on the west of the property.

The design also incorporated a decorative street frontage in the Art Nouveau style. Ornamentation was focused on the areas covering the first and second floors, the ground floor made do with a simple band of bossage. This relatively plain geometrical ornamentation was highlighted with a combination of smooth/rough surfaces and contrasting colours. The designer also drew in strips separating the vertical tiers of windows, and on both outer edges of the façade. The surface of these strips, stylised at the base to suggest tasselled drapes, was originally left blank in the plans, although the builders were resolved to fill them with something richly decorative, and, in local terms, extraordinary. To this end, they turned to the painter Bedřich Kavánek. In 1911 he created an original sgraffito design. In the smaller side panels are plant motifs, the larger window-bordered strips contain two figurative works depicting Master Jan Hus and Master Jerome of Prague. Thus we can infer that the clients were using their new home to make a statement, declaring their anti-clerical and anti-Austrian sentiments out toward to the former Teacher Training Institute (today’s elementary school on Husova Avenue). Both husband and wife were actively engaged in the local life of the town.

The building on Husova was owned by the Bělohoubeks until 1933, when they sold it to the municipal engineer Karel Korel and his wife Julie. Besides minor repairs to the façade, in 1939 the new owners erected an extension in the form of covered courtyard walkways (again Josef Novotný). In subsequent years only minor modifications to the building would follow, leaving the valuable street façade intact. Nonetheless, for many years this has not been in a good state of repair, and still awaits restoration.