Tomáš Baťa Memorial is one of the most important public buildings of the constructivist era, associated with the development of Zlín between the world wars. For years, it was officially called the House of Art, and the premises were used by the gallery and the philharmonic orchestra. The unique restoration in 2018 gave the building, so important for the history of the town, the original design.
Zlín, Památník T. Bati, stav po celkové obnově
Tomáš Baťa Memorial is the unique example of the use of standard construction principles of the period, yet in completely different context. It was built in 1933 as a memorial of the entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa who died at a plane crash. The original interior was design as the commemorative area, including the fateful Junkers airplane on display.
The bold solitary building plays a dominant role in the urban concept of the north-south town axis – the large residential facility of the Gahura Boulevard, designed by architect František Lydia Gahura. The whole complex of two rows of boarding houses for young men and women of Baťa’s Vocational School, built from the 1920s, are finished with two schools built in 1935–1938, in the axis set by Tomáš Baťa Memorial. The buildings, the architecture of which corresponds to the surrounding landscape, have become the most typical urban area of Zlín.
In 2018, comprehensive restoration of the memorial was carried out. It involved the removal of extensions and internal facilities built while the building was used as the House of Art. The original staircase was restored, as well as preserved original structures and surfaces, such as floors and plasters, or steel frames at the façades. The original color scheme was restored in the interior – red floors, white ceilings and blue vertical structures. The missing glass panes on the façade were manufactured and fitted according to the original ones. The restoration also involved the building of the new technical facilities on the southern side under the ground level. The restoration not only returned the original design to the unique Zlín building but also its commemorative purpose. That’s why the model of the Junkers F13, so fateful for Tomáš Baťa, also returned to the building.
Nominated for the Zlínský Region by the regional center of the National Heritage Institute in Kroměříž.
Petr Všetečka (author of the project) was nominated for the National Heritage Institute Prize, category: Renovation of the heritage site, restoration.
