During the 19th century, the age-old village of Hrušová held an important position due to the newly-built communication networks running through it: the so-called “Kaiser's road” (today's R-35) and the Choceň to Litomyšl railway line. However, this did not lead to any greater building development in the village itself.
The construction of a village hall to be used for self-government offices, a gymnasium, local societies and cultural purposes, had long been put off for a variety of reasons. Finally, at the end of the 1930s, the inhabitants of Hrušová achieved their dream. Land for the building was set aside, not in the centre of the village but on its outskirts – at the crossing of two roads which the building was to overlook with its frontage (the rear of the building was turned towards the village). The first plans in 1933, which were not eventually adopted, were by the builder Josef Mikulecký from the nearby village of Řídký. His design for a building of T-shaped floor plan featured a rather bland facade with a symmetrical frontage.
Three years later, in 1936, Mikulecký's original design was reworked by Josef Šantrůček – a long-forgotten architect, painter and draughtsman working in Nový Hrady and Luže. Šantrůček basically retained the floor plan, but reworked the facade, giving it a Modernist yet restrained look thanks to a combination of engineering brick and scratched rendering, along with an asymmetrical front facade. The rear facade, facing towards the village and forming a backdrop to the outside exercise yard, featured a narrow rectangular strip with sgraffito work stretching across the width of the whole facade. The artwork, with its antique, battle motif, was probably created by the painter and graphic designer Alois Mudruňka, a native of Uhersko near Pardubice, who taught drawing at the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design in Prague. During the 1920s, he decorated several buildings in his hometown with sgraffito artwork (e.g. Sokol Organization and local council buildings) which is close in style to that of the sgraffito artwork in Hrušová. However, the possibility that the sgraffito was created by Šantrůček himself cannot be ruled out.
The project of the building itself was expansive and included a fire station (only accessible from outside through large gates), a gymnasium with auditorium and gallery, hygiene facilities, self-government office, library, credit union with safe, meeting room for societies and two flats.
The building has recently been sensitively reconstructed and retains its original architectonic character.
