In place of what was once the District Health Insurance Department and dental surgery, there used to be an ostentatious villa owned by the Litomyšl builder Antonín Beba and built between 1895 and 1896.
Between the first and second world wars, the building was owned by the Agrarian Health Insurance Company and, subsequently, by the District Health Insurance Department which, in 1967, launched its plan of a “major overhaul of the dental surgery”. During this overhaul, the existing building was to be completely reconstructed and added to, in spite of the fact that partial modifications had been carried out to the interior during previous decades. These modifications (within the framework of so-called “Two-year Plans”) included two flats for employees of the insurance company and, in the early 1950s, construction work on a dental laboratory, etc.
The plans for wide-scale reconstruction work were drawn up by Okresní stavební podnik Svitavy and supervised by the building engineer Jaroslav Novotný. Another storey was added to the building, the smooth facade was finished in light tones, with large partitioned windows and topped with a traditional hipped roof with attic windows so as to merge with the buildings of the neighbouring Bernardka (prior to the development of the housing estate). The main entrance, facing west onto Kodymka (today's Kpt. Jaroše) Street, was highlighted in travertine cladding.
Today, the building is in good, well maintained condition and, despite its modern interior renovations, has retained some of its original details (e.g. niches with extractors, laboratory fittings on the first floor, glass cladding on the main staircase, door fittings, etc.).
AŠ – LB
