Towards the end of the 19th century, the so-called Lower Suburb became the “centre” of shoemaking, a segment of the economy that had rapidly developed after 1882 due to the completion of the railway line. The first representative building designated for this branch was the villa and shoemaking workshop of Václav Sommer at the northern end of Dolní (today's Havlíčkova) Street. The opulent, Neo-renaissance design for the building was carried out in 1898 by the Vysoké Mýto builder Josef Drahoš. In this building's immediate vicinity, in place of the cobbler Jan Jandík's cottage, Ignác Berger also built a factory in 1912 for the production of hand-made shoes. This building was designed by the local builder Josef Kreml, who had previously cooperated with Drahoš.
In contrast to Sommer's villa, with its decorative painted features, Kreml designed a much more sober building, devoid of any decoration. The workshops, offices and dispatch department were on the raised ground floor, whilst the first floor contained flats.
In the inter-war period, the building was bought by the successful shoemaker of Jewish origin Hugo Popper who, in 1940, had the original manufacturing premises transformed into flats according to a project by the construction company Maizl a Beba ml. However, two years later, Popper was deported to the concentration camp in Terezín and later to Auschwitz, where he died in 1943.
After the war, the building was put under national administration. In 1959, it became the headquarters of the national enterprise Botana Skuteč which resumed the manufacture of shoes there, and gradually extended the building with annexes for storehouses and offices. Later, it was connected to Sommer's villa which Botana made use of. The facades were unified, with preserved historicizing pictures of knights by the painter J. Fridrich serving as a reminder of the original ornate decoration of Sommer's villa. The Litex company currently produces sportswear and swimwear on the premises of the factory.