In 2011, house No. 159, a Neo-classicist building directly in the historical centre of the town, underwent a distinctive reconstruction process during which valuable historical elements (the main facade, uneven masonry and barrel vaulting) were preserved. Conversely, other sections of the building which had been subjected to inferior modifications in the past (above all, the conversion of part of the house along with its attic into a bakery in the 1930s) were removed and substituted with additions of modern design ensuring the building offered high standards of modern housing.
The single-storey house with attic living space occupies land of a complicated, elongated shape. The facade with the main entrance faces towards Toulovcovo Square and the Mission of the Holy Apostles Church. The rear facade, facing the retaining wall of the raised Monastery Gardens, is partially set into the slope and connected at first-floor level directly to the terrain (the resulting “front garden” features a new single-storey, wooden building with a walkable roof and expansive glazing where part of a bakery used to be).
The main focal point of the building itself is its attic which, together with the first floor, is designated as living space. During the reconstruction, all carpentry work of inferior quality was replaced with new elements fulfilling load-bearing and aesthetic functions. From outside, clues pointing to the reconstruction work undertaken are for example the glazed hipped end of the roof facing onto the square, a group of light-coloured, prismatic attic windows set into the north-west side of the roof – a reference to bakery chimneys which the sweep could climb up – and the new positioning of the windows in the rear, wooden gable end.
Modern and traditional materials such as wood and steel are used in the interiors. A kitchen with a dining room were built into the entry section of the attic space in the rear tract and are linked to the roof of the wooden garden annex which functions as a patio. The centre of the attic layout is the living room in the front tract, from where there is an exceptional view of the skyline of the historical centre thanks to the completely glazed area of the front hipped end of the roof (this glazed section of roof retains its classic appearance from the outside thanks to the application of a layer of perforated copper screens).
Paradoxically, these innovative solutions and unrepeatable experiences, which have charged the old house with new energy, are the result of the complicated conditions laid down by, above all, the National Heritage Institute. As the designer of the project Přemysl Kokeš himself says, “It is fantastic how complications and obstacles can lead to new, offbeat and creative ideas”.
