Hušek Hotel

In 1925, the publican Rudolf Hušek bought the building plot on the corner of Denisova and Fügnerova, opposite the Student House (VP400) and block of apartment buildings. At the beginning of the following year, Čeněk Musil set about creating his initial plans for the site. A hotel bearing the name “Start” was to have been built on a trapezoid floorplan with a rounded corner, in which would be situated a grand entrance. At that point a café, restaurant with a dance salon, and 24 first-floor rooms were envisaged. The definitive form of the design, with the same disposition but a different internal arrangement was completed two years later, in March 1928.

The hotel was intended to be the most modern in Jičín. It is the finest example of Purism, whose advocates, headed by Le Corbusier, admired the austerity of factories and other engineering structures, steam engines or aeroplanes. Nautical symbolism also encroaches into Musil’s buildings, and this is certainly evident in the design details of this hotel (porthole window, flagpole etc.). The building was later extensively modified. The cornice separating the two floors was obviously retained, which emphasised the horizontal arrangement of the façade; nonetheless, the characteristic awning from sheet copper did not survive, although Musil later returned to the idea for the Commercial College.

As it turned out, the project was too grandiose for its cash-strapped owner, and the hotel was auctioned off in 1936. It continued to serve its original purpose in the second half of the century, however, under the name “Hotel Slavie”. Today, most of the building is occupied by offices, but on the ground floor you can also find a pub licensed for dancing.

The square in front of the former hotel was renovated in 1999 according to plans drawn by Jičín building engineer Ivan Drobník. At the same time a circular sandstone fountain was also installed, the work of Jana Foltýnová, then architect of the Town of Jičín.

(GA)