Prague (CZ) - Baba Suburb (European Heritage Site)

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1/  English 

2/  Czech 

3/  French 

4/  German 

The area of contemporary suburb of Baba derives its name from a ruin of Baba chapel dating back to the 19th century. Yet, archeological excavations have proved that the hill has been inhabited already since the Early Stone Age as there existed a fortified settlement there. In the subsequent centuries, a summer house and a vineyard were established there. Unfortunately, the vineyard and a garden with noble trees did not survive the wars for the Austrian inheritanace and the above chapel was built there at the place of the former pleasure gardens.

Based on the initiative of Werkbund between 1927 and 1932, colonies such as Baba should have been the model for housing projects that would be financially effordable for many people. Unlike the other housing projects envisioned by Werkbund, Baba was from its very beginning planned as a colony that should be composed from invidiual non-detatched houses in functionalistic style where individual houses would reflect the needs and wished of the invidiual house owners.

Werkbund (established in 1907) in Munich as an organisation uniting architects, artists and designers aimed to show new directions in effordable housing during the housing crisis caused not only by the First World War. It was inspired by the British movement of Arts and Crafts. The Werkbund ideals spread from Germany where the colonies in Stuttgart, Berlin and Munich were projected to Poland (Wroclaw), Czechoslovakia (Prague), Austria (Vienna) and later to Switzerland. The task for the modernist architects was to plan housing for the inhabitants of modern metropolis.

While the concept of functionalist colonies was not new in former Czechoslovakia (a similar one sprung up in Moravia in the city of Brno), the whole complex plan for the Baba Colony materialized when in 1929 a competition for minimalist housing design was announced.

Unlike many residential projects around the world, the concept of Baba Colony was based on strict architectural discipline. The colony is distinguished by its resilience. Similar colonies in Europe were unfortunatelly largely destroyed during World War II, the Baba Colony luckily has largely remained intact until today.

The competition for the building of the moderninist building project followed an exhibition. It was publicly announced on December 16th, 1929. The plan was to build invididual houses along two parallel streets. When the plans (non-detached houses, flat roof, with a terasse overlooking Prague) for the 33 houses in the Baba colony were published in 1929, many people were interested in participating. In 1932, the union behind the project was able to buy a large estate lot with a beautiful view of Prague. The head project architect was Pavel Janák. The building process started on April 25th, 1932.

1/ ZDENĚK BLAŽEK (1904 - 2000)

• architect and painter
• works - landscapes - in collections in Germany

2/ OTOKAR FISCHEL (1892 - 1944)

• civil engineer
• designed rather smaller buildings, villas and interiors

3/ JAROSLAV FIŠER (1904 - 1984)

• studied in The Hague and participated in the design of the City Museum, in Vienna and then in Prague
• designed a number of houses, e.g. in Liberec

4/ KAREL FIŠER (1905 - 1971)

• graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Prague and the Czech Technical Universi

5/ JOSEF FUCHS (1894 - 1979)

• studied decorative architecture
• designed the new building of the Prague Model Fairs

6/ JOSEF GOČÁR (1880 - 1945)

• architect, urban planner and furniture designer, chairman of the SČSDbuilt the Kytlice Villa

7/ ANTONÍN HEYTHUM (1901 - 1954)

• architect, furniture designer, scenic artist and graphic designer
• designed mass-produced folding chairs

8/ FRANTIŠEK KAVALÍR (1878 - 1932)

• architect, publicist, construction entrepreneur
• together with his brother designed most of the houses for Baba

9/ FRANTIŠEK KERHART (1897 - 1963)

• architect; rather industrial building projects

10/ VOJTĚCH KERHART (1892 - 1978)

• graduated from the Czech Technical University
• member of the art department of the Art Council of the capital city of Prague
• Prague 9 -I Pablo Picasso - Le pigeon aux petits pois

11/ JAN EVANGELISTA KOULA (1896 - 1978)

• architect, furniture designer, architectural theorist and historian
• editor of the magazine Stavba
• published extensively on modern architecture

12/ HANA KUČEROVÁ-ZÁVESKÁ (1904 - 1944)

• architect and furniture designer
• had her own studio in Sweden

13/ EVŽEN LINHART (1898 - 1949)

• architect, furniture designer
• worked at the building office of the capital city. Prague

14/ MART STAM (1899 - 1986)

• Dutch architect
• only foreign participant in the Baba settlement project

15/ OLDŘICH STARÝ (1884 - 1971)

• architect and theorist
• designed the SČSD headquarters on Národní třída in Prague

16/ FRANTIŠEK ZELENKA (1904 - 1944)

• architect, graphic designer, stage and costume designer and author of posters and book adaptations
• left behind 150 theatrical productions and a number of of realized houses

17/ LADISLAV ŽÁK (1900 - 1973)

• architect, painter, theoretician and teacher
• his best known theoretical work is Residential Landscape
• thanks to his three houses in Baba, he became a star from one day to the next

(source: Osada Baba https://stretech.fs.cvut.cz/2015/sbornik_2015/0950.pdf)

Each villa is different as every one of them was tailor made for its future user. The size varied in accordance with the number of projected number of its inhabitants. In line with the fuctionalistic principles, the side facing the street was minimalistic and had very few windows. The villas opened to the garden with a view of the city below. As regards the construction, usual materials were used, some insulation inside as well as outside with the heraklit facade was implemented. The central heating was coal operated. As the interior is concerned, the houses were planned including the furniture. A shift wall was often incorporated enhacing the possibilities of using the rooms flexibly. Most of the wall were kept white. The windows facing the garden were large, however, a clear division between the interior and exterior was maintained.

Listen to the map:

1/ English:  https://soundcloud.com/pavl-na-flaj-arov/en_baba_colony_6b?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing&si=7b6d741cdcc0441a959c73e31585711b 

House: Košťál villa

Address: Na Ostrohu 41 / Jarní 51

First owner(s): Jan Košťál (rector and professor of Technical University Prague) and Anna Košťálová

Built in: 1933-1934

Architect: František Kerhart

House: Dovolil villa

Address: Na ostrohu 43

First owner(s): Karel Dovolil (engineer)

Built in: 1932

Architect: Pavel Janák

House: Jiroušek villa

Address: Na ostrohu 45

First owner(s): Josef Jiroušek (employed at the Ministry of Defence) and Anna Jiroušková

Built in: 1933-34

Architect: František Kehrhat

House: Bouda villa

Address: Na ostrohu 46 / Jarní 7

First owner(s): Cyril Bouda (illustrator, painter, graphic artist)

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Oldřich Starý

House: Letošník villa

Address: Na ostrohu 47

First owner(s): Václav Letošník (political scientist, sociologist) and Božena Letošníková

Built in: 1932

Architect: František Kavalír

House: Joska villa

Address: Na ostrohu 48

First owner(s): František Joska (company owner)

Built in: 1932

Architect: Jaroslav Fišer and Karel Fišer

House: Suk villa

Address: Na ostrohu 49/ Na Babě 10

First owner(s): Václav Suk (builing entrepreneur) and Antonie Suková

Built in: 1932

Architect: Hana Kučerová-Záveská

House: Lisý villa

Address: Na ostrohu 50

First owner(s): Emanuel Lisý (employed at Czech Radio) and Marie Lisá

Built in: 1932

Architect: Antonín Heythum and Evžen Linhart

House: Čeněk villa

Address: Na ostrohu 51

First owner(s): Bohumil Čeněk (music teacher)

Built in: 1932-1933

Architect: Ladislav Žák

House: Vaváček Triple Villa

Address: Na ostrohu 52

First owner(s): Gustav Vaváček (employed at the Customs Office) and Karla Vaváčková

Built in: 1932-1933

Architect: Oldřich Starý

House: Zadák house

Address: Na ostrohu 53 / Průhledová 8

First owner(s): Jan Zadák (factory owner)

Built in: 1934

Architect: František Zelenka

House: Zaorálek villa

Address: Na ostrohu 54

First owner(s): Hugo Zaorálek (employed at the Ministry of Education)

Built in: 1932

Architect: Ladislav Žák

House: Řezáč villa

Address: Na ostrohu 56

First owner(s): Václav Řezáč (writer, employed at the Statistics Bureau)

Built in: 1932

Architect: Vojtěch Kerhart

House: Peřina villa

Address: Na ostrohu 58

First owner(s): Břetislav Peřina (insurance mathematician) and Marie Peřinová

Built in: 1932-1933

Architect: František Kerhart

House: Munk villa

Address: Na ostrohu 60/ Průhledová 10

First owner(s): František Munk (political scientist) and Naďa Munková (journalist)

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Josef Fuchs and Otakar Fischel

House: Mojžíš-Lom villa

Address: Na Babě 1 / Jarní 1 / Nad Paťankou 14

First owner(s): Stanislav Mojžíš-Lom (head of the National Theatre)

Built in: 1936

Architect: Josef Gočár

House: Glücklich villa

Address: Na Babě 2/ Jarní 3

First owner(s): Julius Glücklich (historian, professor of Masaryk University)

Built in: 1934

Architect: Josef Gočár

House: Herain villa

Address: Na Babě 3

First owner(s): Karel Herain (director of Arts and Crafts Museum)

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Ladislav Žák

House: Bautz villa

Address: Na Babě 4

First owner(s): Ludvík Bautz (printing company director)

Built in: 1933

Architect: František Kerhart

House: Balling Villa

Address: Na Babě 5

First owner(s): Karel Balling (composer)

Built in: 1931-1933

Architect: Hana Kučerová-Záveská

House: Linda house

Address: Na Babě 6

First owner(s): Václav Linda (secondary school headmaster) and Pavla Lindová

Built in: 1933-1934

Architect: Pavel Janák

House: Heřman villa

Address: Na Babě 7

First owner(s): František Heřman (officer in the Czech Army)

Built in: Oldřich Starý

Architect: 1931-1933

House: Moravec villa

Address: Na Babě 8

First owner(s): Karla Moravcová and Moravec (factory director)

Built in: 1933-1934

Architect: Vojtěch Kerhart

House: Palička villa

Address: Na Babě 9

First owner(s): Jiří Palička (building enterpreneur) and Emílie Paličková (textile designer)

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Mart Stam and Jiří Palička

House: Spíšek villa

Address: Na Babě 11

First owner(s): Ferdinand Spíšek

Built in: 1933

Architect: Ladislav Machoň

House: Poláček villa

Address: Na Babě 12

First owner(s): Václav Poláček (Publisher) and Marie Poláčková

Built in: 1932

Architect: Jan E. Koula

House: Uhlíř villa

Address: Na Babě 13 / Průhledová 4

First owner(s): Antonín Uhlíř (politician, MP, sociologist)

Built in: 1932

Architect: František Kavalír

House: Lužná villa

Address: Na Babě 14 / Průhledová 6

First owner(s): Miroslava Lužná (a wife of an ambassador)

Built in: 1933

Architect: Zdeněk Blažek and Otakar Fischel

House: Maule villa

Address: Nad Paťankou 18

First owner(s): Václav Maule

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Josef Gočár

House: Kytlica villa

Address: Nad Paťankou 22

First owner(s): Karel Kytlica (employee of the Ministry of Education)

Built in: 1932-1933

Architect: Josef Gočár

House: Bělehrádek villa

Address: Nad Paťankou 24

First owner(s): Jan Bělehrádek (dean of the Faculty of Medicine)

Built in: 1935-1936

Architect: František Kehrart

House: Sutnar villa

Address: Průhledová 2 / Nad Paťankou 28

First owner(s): Ladislav Sutnar (graphic artist, painter, architect)

Built in: 1931-1932

Architect: Oldřich Starý

House: Janák villa

Address: Nad Paťankou 16

First owner(s): Pavel Janák (architect)

Built in: 1931–1932

Architect: Pavel Janák

2/ Row house in the Baba Colony - virtual tour video

 https://culture.ec.europa.eu/cs/cultural-heritage/initiatives-and-success-stories/european-heritage-label/european-heritage-label-sites/werkbund-estates-in-europe-austria-czech-republic-germany-poland 

The creation of this map was financially supported within Erasmus+ project Urbanism and Suburbanization in the EU Countries and Abroad: Reflection in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts (2021-1-CZ01-KA220-HED-000023281).

The European Commission's support for the production of this output does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.