For a long time, Litomyšl evangelists, who merged in 1897 into the “Society for the establishment of a reformed evangelical congregation”, had been endeavouring to find adequate premises for their religious services. Up to the beginning of the 20th century, they made use of temporary premises in the townhouses in Lány, in the so-called Sommer Villa (where the Litex building is located today), and in local schools. They were interested in sharing the hospital church. However, in 1905, thanks to financial help from the Sloupnice congregation they bought the former pub “Dívčí hrady” in today's Antonín Tomíčka Street. In the same year, the well-known local builder Antonín Beba modified the interior for prayer meetings.
However, the steadily increasing size of the Evangelical Church after the formation of Czechoslovakia meant that even new these premises were no longer adequate. In 1923, when the Society became an independent congregation, another local builder, Václav Šilhavý, submitted plans for the reconstruction and expansion of the prayer room. Due to financial restrictions of the investor, Šilhavý retained the original perimeter walls but demolished all the interior partitions, ceilings and stairways, thus creating a main hall with a graceful mirror ceiling. He also had a polygonal niche built for the stairway on the east wing which led both down to the basement office and up to the gallery on the first floor. The exterior and interior decoration remained decidedly sober as was typical for buildings of the reformed church. The exterior was decorated with stucco ornamentation with floral or biblical motifs (chalice, the Ram, bust of Hus). The area of the prayer room, which was pure white, was dominated by a wooden Art-nouveau-style pulpit, probably designed by Šilhavý himself.
A year after the celebratory opening of the new building, also known as “Hus' Chapel”, a ground-floor vicarage with a mansard roof and sober facade was designed and built by Šilhavý.
The prayer room was significantly modified in the 1940s when the builder Václav Jandeček transformed its north annex into a meeting hall.
AŠ – LB