Bohumil Hypšman died 60 years ago. He built villas, ministries and factories in Prague
One of the most famous realizations of Hypšman, who was born as Bohumil Hübschmann, but after the Second World War let the name be honored, Yippee ministry complex under Emmaus. It is a building of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Work, which it separates square Under Emmaus with a magnificent monument Prague to his winning sons. To this day, the solution is appreciated for not overshadowing, but for making the Emmaus Monastery and the Prague skyline on the right bank of the river stand out. Therefore, Hypsman did not intentionally design the buildings too tall.
“Architect Hypšman used the original gradation of the terrain. He conceived the area of Palackého náměstí as an elevated terrace – the base of a monument – whose background he reinforced with a monumental building of the Ministry of Health. Its material counterpart, the second ministerial building, was moved to the mouth of Podskalská Street, “he states Encyclopedia of Prague 2. “Bohumil Hypšman he created a formally perfect urban composition, which is, however, completely subordinate to the original Emmaus panorama. To the senses inanimate perfection also provide – in the context of contemporary architecture – obsolete neoclassical form of buildings and squares. ”It should be noted that both buildings of the Ministry are now listed.
The original paternoster operates in the atrium of the MLSA building. The atrium is spectacular. David Zima
At home in Střešovice
As almost every architect, even Hypšman si he designed his own villa, in which he spent the rest of his life. Not many famous architects chose a prominent district in Ořechovka for their lives, and Hypšman was not chosen. His villa on the border of Střešovice and Ořechovka was built between 1926 and 1927 during the dynamic development of a residential area, the concept of which came from the architects Jaroslav Vondrák and Jan Šenkýř.
“The architect built a family house on a corner plot in Střešovice for himself, his wife Maria and his three sons. The house consists of three blocks equipped in parallel, the middle of which is elevated by an attic floor, “says Dita Dvořáková in the book Famous Prague Villas. There is no doubt that this is a famous villa. Already in the distance it is imaginative, but inconspicuous by austere facades. We would look for it at the end of U Laboratoře street in Prague 6.
Hypšman’s villa is located on the border of Ořechovka and Střešovice.
Author: Wikimedia commons
Where did the Slavic Epic originate?
In the same part of the city there is another of Hypšman’s top realizations. To order designed a house for the world-famous painter Alfons Mucha, specifically in Bubenečská street V Tišině. “At the time when he asked the architect Bohumil Hypšman for a project of his house, still there were three years left until the completion of the Epic. Although he painted it at Zbiroh chateau, of course he needed to have a studio in Prague, “States Radomíra Sedláková in the publication Famous Villas of Prague 6 – Bubeneč.
The Hypšman designed the villa to suit Mucha’s visitors. “He offered him a villa at the same time magnificent AND simple. In addition to the usual spaces, such as a garage, a caretaker’s apartment, a laundry room, a boiler room and cellars, the largest basement room was designated as framing, “Sedláková describes with the fact that the composition of the interior of the two-storey villa was strictly symmetrical. “The attic was for the Master – on Wednesday, a large studio with a raised ceiling like a window leading to the roof lay for the entire depth of the house. ”Construction began in 1925 and was completed three years later. It stands near Mucha’s villa an unmissable Sieburg villa, which Hypšman designed for the Imperial Council and a businessman with Hugo Sieburger wallpapers.
He helped live Prague
It was not just contracts for more affluent clients son of a tailor, who graduated from the Prague Civil Engineering School, lives. Its first realization was created in the first decade of the twentieth century and it was far from the villas of prominent inhabitants of Prague. Among its earliest buildings are, for example school for the deaf in Smíchov’s Holečková street. He also took part in hotel constructions on Wenceslas Square or in some buildings of the Odkolkov mill and bakery in Vysočany.
In 1909, the realization of his design began Stock steam mill in Holešovice, which can still be found in U Uranie Street. Be, of course, adapted to another purpose – today, in the complex of buildings, which are significant with an imaginative tower, there are mainly offices. However, it used to be processed in these places up to 210 tons of grain per day! This was further processed into flour, from which buns and rolls were made, which were fed throughout Prague.
“He designed the façade in the spirit of Wagnerian modernism,” say the authors of the book The Prague Industrial by Viennese architect Otto Wagner, a great founder of modern European architecture who had a young architect, especially in Hypšman’s beginnings. It’s for him too teachers.
“Its flat decor composed of bricks last internal division of the building. In 1911, a reinforced concrete eight-storey flour warehouse was built on the plot, one of the first of this construction in the then monarchy. ”Although the mill area has not been preserved in its entirety, the torso that has survived is still a protected monument. However, the same fate of the last mentioned Odkolka mills and bakeries in Vysočany, which were demolished at the beginning of 2021.
The original building of Odkolkova mlýn mill. The facade will remain here.
Author: Jiří Marek
Builder industrial Hostivař
It was stated at the outset that Hypšman’s buildings could be found literally in every corner of Prague. This is really not an exaggerated statement. While signatures of many important architects – eg Jan Kotěra, Jaroslav Vondrák, Josef Gočár, Alois Dryák, Josef Mocker or Josef Fuchs – can be found in the center of Prague and its wider surroundings, some of Hypšman’s buildings we would find up to practically on its periphery. In 1922, it grew by a large ring of neighborhoods, which is now a matter of course in the metropolis. Among them i Hostivař, where there was a lively construction activity at that time. Among many, Hypšman was signed under it, in this respect it is even possible to call which one pioneer.
„Strojírna Ing. Otakar Podhajský, founded in 1913, was the first factory of the Hostivař complex, which was originally designed by architect Bohumil Hypšman on flat land by the railway line, “we will read in the book Prague Industrial. It was located in U Pekáren Street. There, or exactly on the border between Hostivař, Horní and Dolní Měcholupy, Hypšman also designed the Prague Glassworks. “Van hall, furnace hall, butcher’s shop, packing room, boiler room and engine room,” the authors of the book calculate what the Hypšman industrial complex enriched at that time. For a long time, the halls served as warehouses, which were devastated in 2018 by a devastating fire.
A slightly more lively fate befell the Hypšmans Hostivař mills and bakeries, which the architect designed in 1918, and which were probably at the time the most imaginative building in the area. “The architect gave the facades unmistakable expression by geometric division, which forms a combination of squares and circles. The dominant feature of the area was the concrete four-chamber silo of the completed fire tank, “the book states. The building did not serve its original purpose for long. In the 1930s it was rebuilt on film studios, later to the laboratory of nuclear physics. “In the years 1994-1995, the mill building was converted into offices. At that time, the original decorative fencing disappeared and accessories were added that devalued Hypšman’s architecture, “say the authors of the book Prague Industrial.
He preserved the worldliness of Prague
Hypsman, though he built entirely modern buildings purposes, he was a supporter preservation of the historical face of Prague. For a time he was the chairman of the club For Old Prague, he worked in the State Regulatory Commission, after the Second World War he was also a member of the State Institute for the Reconstruction of Historic Towns. When creating his buildings, he made sure that they did not disturb the character of their surroundings, which is best seen in the buildings of the two ministries below Emmaus.
After all, the obituary, which was published in Literární noviny after November 18, 1961 after Hypšman’s death, clearly states: “He kept returning to Prague and saving, wherever he could, its world reachIt should be added that it not only saved, but also expanded its reach.
However, not every realization was given to him. Like many of his peers, so does he repeatedly reported the completion of the Old Town Hall. As we know, it was not completed despite many architectural competitions, even after the war, when it suffered a devastating fire. Even so, Hypšman remained active until later years – Be his “golden watch” no doubt it occurred in the interwar periodwhen his buildings are famous. In addition to the already mentioned, these are, for example, the Social Institute for the District Sickness Fund in Lannova Street, an extension to the Crop Exchange on Senovážné náměstí, a department store on Národní třída and others, and more …
Hypšman’s villa is located on the border of Ořechovka and Střešovice.
Author: Wikimedia commons