Fára’s House

Cubist reconstruction in 1914

Fára’s House is a corner building located in Pelhřimov’s central square. The originally Gothic building was modified several times; it got its Baroque appearance and the name “U Zlatého soudku” in 1766, after a destructive fire. Leopold von Sternbach, its owner, ran a hotel in the building.  In 1911, the house became property of Vojtěch Fára, a physician, who decided to rebuild it to suit his own purposes (residence and surgery). He chose the architect Pavel Janák for the job. The building’s reconstruction is one of his best known works. Janák shaped the space in three dimensions using surface areas. There is also an evident effort at preserving the Baroque character of the town centre using a fusion of Cubism and historical architecture. The building was reconstructed on many occasions (most thoroughly in 1976–1978), which significantly changed the internal organisation of the building.

It is a single-storey building with a mansard roof and a gable façade with a monumental central section. It has an arcade with three arches. The original building was not a corner one, it did not have a mansard roof, gables, bay windows and a balcony. It became a corner building in the 16^th century. Pavel Janák used the gable to make the building closer to Baroque architecture. The author was very careful; the work was based on a modernist style (Cubism), but at the same time it appeared as belonging to older, Baroque architecture. The architect did both of the tasks without emulating old architectural techniques. Load-bearing walls were preserved and the arcades of the original building were closed in. On the ground floor, there were shops, businesses, the owner’s surgery and several private flats, the largest of which had a terrace and a gazebo.