The extremely accomplished design for the building of the grammar school is the first of its kind undertaken by Antonín Ausobský for Litomyšl. The first study, dating back to the beginning of 1920 and Neo-renaissance in concept, included the construction of a tall, slim Neo-renaissance tower similar to that of the Girls' teacher-training school designed by Dobroslav Hnídek (02-22). The final plans for the design are from June 1920. They retain the traditional, basically H-shaped, floor plan but include geometrical Modernist elements merged with traditional shapes. “In applying artistic design to a school building it is vital, whilst acknowledging issues concerning the simplicity and practicality of all components relating to its exterior and harmonious interior, that it is pleasant and stimulating for the children.” This is how Ausobský writes about school buildings, and adds that a characteristic feature of the exterior is “the linking of classrooms into larger units with slim pillars in between thus, appropriately expressing the interior.”
In effect, this is also true for the symmetrical partitioning of the whole building, which achieves a regular vertical impression with the help of pilaster strips, interrupted on a horizontal plane above the first floor with a richly profiled cornice which also connects the lower side wing with the main part. A white stucco framing helps to link the various patterns of the facade, thus contributing to the rich composition of the entrance facade facing the town centre. The colouring of the facade also heightens the overall aesthetic effect, with contrasting rough grey rendering on unbroken surfaces and smooth white on the pilaster strips.
The main entrance to the building is accentuated by its imposing shape giving, with its vast rectangular mass, the impression of a separate wing situated in front of the central part of the front facade. Emerging from this mass is an immense semi-hexagonal avant-corps which, at ground-floor level, turns into a large, open hall of Antique character whose front columns are almost in line with the side wings. The uniqueness of this part is optically accentuated by steadily rising pilaster strips framing the above-mentioned section which is topped with a mansard roof. The building is crowned with a hexagonal sheet metal-clad turret with a handrail and miniature gazebo in its centre. The Neo-classicist design, based on the symmetry and regular spacing of the pilaster strips reaching skywards, is accentuated by the semi-circular avant-corps of the wings crowned with truncated-cone shaped roofs.
The school is comprised of two main sections with a central staircase of two flights with the classrooms facing out over the courtyard at the rear and the corridors overlooking the street.
Construction of the building was undertaken by the Prague firm Ferdinad Rudolf and the Grammar School was put into operation on August 26. 1923.
PK
