Brno builder Ing. Boleslav Bloudek

The name of the Brno builder Boleslav Bloudek is usually mentioned in connection with the realization of the railway postal office by Bohuslav Fuchs from 1938. However, Bloudek participated in the construction of several significant buildings during the 1920s and 1940s, not only in the city of Brno. This article is dedicated to his life and construction activities.

Boleslav Bloudek was born on December 2, 1896, in Kranj, in present-day Slovenia. His father, Ing. Lev Bloudek, who came from Telč, married Běla Hlaváčková around 1890, and the couple moved to Kranjska, where Lev Bloudek worked as a construction engineer. For many years, he led the construction of bridges in the southern foothills of the Alps. Here, the Bloudek couple also had their four children. The oldest, Slavoj, was born in 1895, followed by Boleslav a year later. In 1901 Lev was born, and finally, in 1908, their only daughter Běluša.
It was probably his father's profession that predetermined the professional direction of Boleslav Bloudek. It should be noted, however, that the extended Bloudek family included several individuals who excelled in technical and construction fields. One of Boleslav's cousins, Stanko Bloudek, born in Idrija, Slovenia, was a prominent designer of aircraft, automobiles, and ski jumps [1].

After the establishment of the republic, Lev Bloudek's family decided to return to their homeland and settled in Brno in 1922, where Lev Bloudek worked as a ministry advisor in the Land Political Administration, specifically in the State Construction Service. His domicile certificate was issued on June 22, 1922. The city directory from 1923, which mentions Lev Bloudek's name for the first time, describes him as ,,Ministerialrat" with a residence at today's Drobného Street 54, in a house that belonged to the Land Political Administration. The 1925 directory already refers to him as a government advisor and chairman of the State Construction Service at the Land Political Administration.

His son, Boleslav Bloudek, entered the study of civil engineering in Prague as a newly demobilized soldier, completing his studies in 1924. After finishing his studies, he joined the rest of the family in Brno. In a later letter dated March 1, 1939, he informed the Police Directorate that he had continuous residence in Brno since 1926. Upon his arrival in Brno, thirty-one-year-old Boleslav Bloudek, along with the rest of the family, lived in the house at Drobného 54, probably until 1931, when the construction of the apartment building of Josef and Ludvík Koláček was completed at the corner of Anenská and Kopečná Streets. It was to this house that Boleslav Bloudek moved for a short time.

After moving to Brno, Boleslav Bloudek began working at the company Ferrobeton, which specialized in the design of concrete and reinforced concrete structures and cement trading. Initially, he held the position of construction assistant, but soon became a leading employee of the company, overseeing several significant construction projects in Brno.

The Ferrobeton company was founded by entrepreneur Ing. Bohumír Hollmann [2]. The company's registration was made on May 2, 1914, as a limited liability company, and the subject of business was ,,to design reinforced concrete constructions, to execute buildings of plain or reinforced concrete on one's own or third party's account, to engage in the production and sale of cement and artificial stone goods, and to utilize patents related to the field of reinforced concrete."[3] The partnership agreement was established on March 29, 1914, with a share capital of 40,000 crowns. The company's directors were František Patzák, an industrialist from Prague, and Dr. tech. Artuš Lederer, an engineer from Dejvice.[4] Two years after the company's founding, one of the directors was replaced, with František Patzák being succeeded by Ing. Arnošt Neumann from Prague.[5] Despite being founded by builders from Prague, the company's activities were aimed from the beginning at realizations in Brno and its surroundings. Since its establishment, the company has been located at Veselá 7-9 in Brno [6], and this address is still mentioned in the Directory of the Capital City of Brno from 1948.[7]

The company introduced itself to the Brno public for the first time with an advertisement in the Lidové noviny on April 26, 1914. The advertisement proclaimed that Ferrobeton created: ,,Hollow ceilings system Hollman and co. with a flat concrete underside, very hygienic, heat and sound insulating, no reeds or crests. Foundations in poorly bearing soils on conical piles by Pat. Stern, the cheapest and proven method of artificial foundations. Tensioned concrete patent Magld-Abromof."[8]

At the end of 1925, the company’s name appeared in Brno's daily newspapers in connection with a robbery that took place on November 17, 1925, committed by an intern of the company, eighteen-year-old František Pilnáček, and his friend Richard Schlesinger, against the company’s accountant Anna Holitzková: ,,When she entered the house on Veveří 54, where she lived, she noticed a strange man standing with his back to her, but at that moment she also felt a sharp blow to her head with a hammer. She wanted to escape, but the blows kept coming, so she had no choice but to call for help and hold her briefcase tighter as the unknown young man shook it."

Especially after the establishment of the republic, the company undertook a number of primarily transport construction projects.[10] Boleslav Bloudek probably joined the company already in 1926 when Ferrobeton was engaged in concrete work for the construction of a ceremonial hall at the Central Cemetery of Brno, designed by Bohuslav Fuchs and Josef Polášek.[11]

It is unclear whether Boleslav Bloudek participated in this construction; however, he definitely led the construction of probably the most significant contract awarded to the company by the Land Committee and the city council: the construction of the main exhibition pavilion [12] designed by Josef Kalous and Jaroslav Valenta for the Jubilee Exhibition in Brno in 1928.[13] ,,The main structure is being built by the Brno company Ferrobeton, which employs 300 workers on the site and has 200 working days to complete the entire complex." [14]

In addition, Ferrobeton also executed the construction of the entrance building from Emil Králík and the pavilion for the city of Brno from Bohuslav Fuchs.[15] It was probably during the construction of the ceremonial hall or the exhibition pavilions for the Brno Exhibition Grounds that Bloudek met the year older Bohuslav Fuchs, which marked the beginning of their further cooperation and friendship. Within Ferrobeton, Bloudek led the construction and static calculations for Fuchs' Specialized School for Women’s Professions Vesna on Lipová Street (1929-1930) and the Moravia Sanatorium in Tatranská Lomnica (1929-1930). The Directory of Greater Brno from 1930 still lists the company's directors Artur Lederer and Ernst Neumann, but the directories from the following years 1932 and 1934 mention Boleslav Bloudek and Oskar Teller as company directors.[16]

In 1932, Boleslav Bloudek married Jindřiška Lažková (born January 1, 1909, in Brno) and the couple rented an apartment in a new building at what is now Bratří Čapků Street number 14. The house, built in 1931 by builder Vladimír Stavíček, was commissioned by Guido Strašnov.[17]

During the 1930s, Boleslav Bloudek became a collector of modern, avant-garde art, and his collections included works of art by Josef Čapek, Emil Filla, Jaroslav Král, Antonín Procházka, and František Kaláb. In 1986, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Bloudek's death, architect Vladimír Matoušek recalled him with the following words: ,,He was interested in all visual arts, especially liked painting and music. He was also a person of excellent personal qualities - modest, cheerful, sociable, always willing to help anyone, anywhere."[18]

Sometime in 1933 or 1934 [19], Boleslav Bloudek decided to become independent and founded his own construction company bearing his name. Even after becoming independent, his company continued to operate at the address Veselá 7-9, most likely until 1938. No later than the beginning of 1939, it moved to Zelny trh 3, and after the end of World War II, it was located at Starobrněnská 7. From the founding of the company, Oskar Teller was also its silent partner. From 1934, Bloudek rented land from builder Franz Schub at Křídlovická Street plot no. 88, which he used as a construction material warehouse and storage keeper's apartment.

After becoming independent, Bloudek significantly expanded his activities and carried out work in many places across the republic, whether it involved residential buildings, public and factory structures, or technical facilities and transport infrastructure.
In 1933, he participated in a competition for a bridge in Brno-Obřany, where he, in collaboration with Bedřich Rozehnal, won second prize.[20] Between 1935-1938, he completed the City Vocational School for Women's Professions Charlotta Masaryková from Josef Polášek on Merhautova Street. In 1937, his company applied for the construction of military fortifications on the borders with Austria: ,,To compete for the contracts for the construction of both above-mentioned sections were invited professionally competent, financially secure, and completely reliable construction companies from a national security perspective: Karel Kovařík from Přerov, Ing. František Hrabata and Ing. Alois Smékal from Prostějov, Ing. Boleslav Bloudek from Brno, Stanislav Neděla from Brno, and Ing. Čeněk Ruller from Brno." [21]

At the end of the 1930s, his most prominent realization was again completed in cooperation with Bohuslav Fuchs, namely the railway post office from 1938: ,,The main contractor was the company Ing. Boleslav Bloudek, which executed the construction, reinforced concrete, and building works. The organizational handling of the site, especially the deep soil excavations, their transport and loading was a prime example of the excellent preparation of this building office, during which there was no room for any improvisation on site that could harm the company and, ultimately, the builder. The thanks should, therefore, first go to both the technical as well as trade and organizational readiness of this company for overcoming all difficult tasks timely and well, so that construction did not stall and that it would be possible in the coming days, when postal traffic intensified significantly during the pre-Christmas period, to commence at least the internal operations to relieve the cramped space in the temporary building and to open the entire post office after Christmas."[22]

Approximately at the same time, the construction of the apartment building of Leo and Artur Pollak on today's Milady Horákové Street number 7 by architect Endre Steiner followed. Between 1939-1940, he realized the construction of an apartment building by the same architect on Kpt. Jaroše 2a, whose builder was industrialist Hugo Hecht, and also the construction of municipal apartment buildings on Tábor Street from Josef Polášek. At the end of 1939, Boleslav Bloudek employed 311 workers and 33 officials.[23]

The construction activity of Boleslav Bloudek's company continued even after the establishment of the Protectorate, although with the advancing war years, the number of contracts began to decline significantly, and at the end of the war, it focused practically only on building air-raid shelters and military facilities. The war period also affected the company's financial turnover and the number of employees. While the company's turnover in the year it was established (1934) reached 1,541,923 crowns, in 1939 it was already 10,228,087 crowns, but by 1942, the turnover had fallen to merely 2,720,567 crowns.[24]

During the Nazi occupation, the apartment house on Bratří Čapků Street number 14, where the Bloudks lived, underwent arization, and its owner Guido Strašnov was deported to Terezin. In 1942, the Gestapo also arrested Boleslav's younger brother, Lev Bloudek Jr., for participating in the communist anti-Nazi resistance. Incidentally, this is the reason why Boleslav Bloudek represented his imprisoned brother at the wedding of Lev Bloudek and Ludmila Boháčková in 1942.

After the end of World War II, Bloudek responded to a questionnaire from the Economic Group of the Construction Industry, in which he assessed the national composition in his company: ,,In the company, since its founding in 1934, there was employed one German among 15-30 officials - Anna Holitzká - as a cashier. She was completely apolitical, an elderly spinster, 55 years old, who always spoke only Czech, never wore any badges, and did not engage politically. She behaved in such a way that neither I nor my Czech staff ever had any reason to complain. Since the day of liberation, she has not appeared again. As far as I know, no employee of mine, Czech or otherwise, has committed any offense against national honor." [25]

In June 1945, he also applied to the National Committee for the assignment of land on Křídlovická after the German builder Franz Schuber: ,,Ing. B. Bloudek has been renting the above-mentioned land with a fence and a 1-room building since 1933 and has been using it up to now as his construction storage and the manager's apartment. During the fighting for Brno, this repository, along with the house, was completely destroyed, and all efforts to obtain immediate suitable compensation have been in vain, so today, when his construction company is supposed to carry out necessary repair work on several public buildings, he cannot securely store building materials and his newly acquired inventory anywhere."[26]

Boleslav Bloudek's independent activities ended only with the communist coup in 1948. Already on February 28, 1948, he was appointed by the company as a corporate representative for the administration of national management over all the company's property assets and rights. The designated national administrator was the national enterprise Konstruktiva, and the leading representative for nationalization was architect František Ryšánek. Based on the Decree of the Minister of Technique no. 1492/1948 on the incorporation of nationalized companies into Czechoslovak construction enterprises, a national enterprise in Prague, dated July 18, 1948, the company Boleslav Bloudek was fully nationalized and thus ceased to exist.

After nationalization, Boleslav Bloudek first moved to a construction company and later to Stavoprojekt Brno, where he served as technical director. In his new job, he applied his exceptionally good managerial skills. He co-created the project organization, developed the first task system and the first standards for design activities, which were later implemented nationwide. In 1952, Boleslav Bloudek engaged in research on urban economic issues at the Brno workplace of the Research Institute of Construction and Architecture. Here, his expertise also became apparent, as he belonged to the Czechoslovak pioneers who dealt with previously unknown relationships between economics and urban development: ,,He approached the problem of urban economics in a completely unconventional, innovative manner, we might say, already then systematically. The result of his diligent creative activity was a three-part work - Bases of the Economics of City Construction - focusing on indicators of building density and floor areas, the relation of height zones to the need for areas, indicators of building volumes and data on areas of different functional purposes in residential districts and residential areas."[27] In addition, he also participated in the creation of the book The Construction of Cities and Villages: An Urban Handbook, which was published in Prague in 1957. His work and approach were appreciated at the world congress of IFHP in Vienna in 1956.

In the same year, however, Boleslav Bloudek died after a long illness. His tombstone at the Central Cemetery was created by architect Antonín Kurial.[28] Jindřiška Bloudková died at the age of ninety-nine in 2008.

Realizations by the Boleslav Bloudek Company

1934–1939

1947
Workers' house in Rosice near Brno

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Notes

1. Father Jaroslav B. was a mining engineer, born in Telč. His mother came from Slovenia. Bloudek also had Slovenian nationality and was domiciled in Most. After completing high school, he briefly studied law, and in the academic year 1909/1910 attended the Czech Technical University in Prague, specializing in mechanical engineering. From spring until October 1910, in Prague, together with Jaroslav Potůček, he worked on the construction of an airplane, which was then successfully tested in November by the pioneer of Czech aviation Jan Čermák in Plzeň. Later, he became the first professional aircraft designer in Bohemia. After 1918, he moved to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, where he worked in the aviation and primarily in the automotive industry. In the late 1920s, he designed and built a sports aircraft with a British Cirrus engine. In 1934, under his plans, the giant ski jump in Planica was constructed. Source: https://biography.hiu.cas.cz/wiki/BLOUDEK_Stanko_1890%E2%80%931959
2. Bohumír Hollmann came from a family of a headmaster in Starý Plzenec. After studying at the Prague Technical School, he became a builder in Prague and a specialist in concrete work. Since 1914, he was a partner and designer of the company B. Hollmann and Co., with Artuš Lederer (1883-1937) also involved. Source: https://kam.hradcekralove.cz/stavitel/20-bohumir-hollmann
3. Brünner Zeitung, May 14, 1914, no. 110.
4. Artuš Lederer, born February 3, 1883, in Heřmanův Městec. He designed both bridge and ground constructions. As of July 1, 1909, he was the chief engineer at the Herzán company in Prague, and from January 1, 1914, he became a partner of the B. Hollmann and Co. in Prague and Ferrobeton in Brno.
5. Ernst, or also Arnošt, Neumann, born 1880 in Prague. After finishing technical studies, he was a designer at the technical college in Prague and founded the company Ing. B. Hollmann and Co. dealing with construction in Prague in 1907. In 1924, the company was transformed into a General Building Joint Stock Company, where Neumann served as the head administration councilor. In addition, he established the Ferrobeton construction company, Ltd. in Brno in 1914. Later, in 1923, he founded the North Bohemian Construction Company, Ltd. in Teplice, where he served as a director. He also held positions in companies like Stadion, Ltd., which manufactured bicycles in Rakovník, the U.P. factories joint-stock company in Brno, and the Technical Joint Stock Company in Brno.
6. The house was damaged during an Allied air raid on November 20, 1944, and after the war, it was leveled to the ground.
7. The director of the company in 1948 was supposed to be Dr. Jiří Brabec.
8. Lidové noviny, April 26, 1914, year 22, no. 114.
9. Rovnost: The newspaper of the Czech Social Democrats, November 28, 1926, year 42, no. 328.
10. In 1923, the Ministry of Public Works commissioned Ferrobeton for establishing the load-bearing structure and completing the construction of a bridge over the Třebůvka in Moravská Třebová. In 1924, the company performed concrete work for the construction of the eastern wing of the railway station building in Košice, while the Directorate of Czechoslovak State Railways commissioned the construction of a bridge over the Morava River in Břeclav. In 1925, the company constructed a new culvert on the same line. The Ministry of Public Works commissioned the company in 1925 for the construction of a reinforced concrete hangar at the state civil airport in Brno. In 1926, the firm was assigned to build direct exit structures from Břeclav to Kúty. In 1929, Ferrobeton, in collaboration with Knorr, constructed the Jubilee School in Jihlava.
11. The construction work on the ceremonial hall was carried out jointly by the construction companies Ferrobeton and Müller.
12. The contract for the construction of the main exhibition palace (concrete work) was awarded to Ferrobeton by the city council and the Land Committee on September 14, 1926.
13. Boleslav Bloudek is probably captured in one of the photographs from the BVV archive, which shows a group of men standing in front of the unfinished exhibition pavilion.
14. Salon: society, sports, theatre, film, fashion, visual arts, 1927, year 6, no. 9.
15. According to the city directories from 1932 and 1934, employees in Ferrobeton included Oskar Jungwirth and Rudolf Fasan.
16. Oskar Teller was born June 1, 1884, in Royal Vinohrady. The first notice for Oskar Teller comes from August 17, 1920, with a residence address at In den Gärten 3 (now Sady in Maloměřice). His wife was Jitka, née Tržická, with whom he had a son Sáša. The 1948 directory lists him at Nopová Street 41 in Juliánov.
17. Guido Strašnov (1869-1962). A graduate of the Mladá Boleslav grammar school and mechanical engineering at the German Technical University in Prague. He briefly worked in the car factory August Braun & Co. in Vienna. Between 1903-1905 he was employed at Škodovy závody in Plzeň. From 1906-1908, he worked at Bromovský, Schulz., u. Sohn in Adamov (Adamovské strojírny), and from 1909-1910 at the machine shop in Hradec Králové. Then he taught at the industrial school in Brno and at the same time, from 1912, lectured on accounting and engineering calculation at the Brno Technical University. After World War I, he was the accountant of the State Ironworks in Podbrezová. At the beginning of World War II, he was forced to leave the school. Between 1941-1945, he was imprisoned in Terezin. He was the author of several articles and publications on engineering and modern office tools. Source: https://ipac.svkkl.cz/arl-kl/cs/detail-kl_us_auth-0286808-Strasnov-Kvido-18791962/?qt=mg
18. Matoušek, V.: Boleslav Bloudek has died. In: Architect: a bi-monthly of the Union of Architects of Czechoslovakia. May 4, 1956, year 2, no. 9, p. 3.
19. In his advertisement, published in the publication Brno City and Surroundings in 1938, it states that the company was founded in 1930 by Ing. Boleslav Bloudek and by 1933 was involved in bridge construction projects. Then, in 1933, it was supposed to start engaging in engineering and ground construction. In the administrative documents of the company from the Protectorate period, however, the years 1933 and 1934 appear as the dates of its founding.
20. Competition for the construction of bridges over the Svratka in Jundrov and Svitava in Obřany. In: Moravská orlice November 5, 1933, year 71, no. 44.
21. ceskoslovenske_opevneni_LVA.pdf
22. We are completing the new postal building Brno 2. In: Moravské Slovo, December 8, 1939, p. 7.
23. "Employee status of the company as of December 1, 1939: Construction Budilová: 19 workers; Oslavany: 3 workers; Post station: 58 workers; Tábor: 54 workers; Vyškov: 159 workers; Legionářská: 4 workers; Stoka railway station: 5 workers; Jihlava hospital: 9 workers. Total 311 workers and 33 officials." Source: MZA, fund H 750 - Ing. Boleslav Bloudek, officially authorized civil engineering and builder, Brno.
24. Company turnover: 1934: 1,541,923,-; 1936: 7,124,362,-; 1939: 10,228,087,-; 1942: 2,720,567,-; 1944: 4,229,408,- Number of officials: 1934: 8; 1936: 18; 1939: 28; 1942: 22; 1944: 15. Source: MZA, fund H 750 - Ing. Boleslav Bloudek, officially authorized civil engineering and builder, Brno.
25. MZA, fund H 750 - Ing. Boleslav Bloudek, officially authorized civil engineering and builder, Brno.
26. Ibid.
27. Matoušek, Vladimír. Boleslav Bloudek 1896-1956. In: Construction and Architecture: Research and study information in the area of construction, architecture, and the environment, 1986, year 32, no. 3, p. 51-52.
28. The tombstone is located in group H7, grave number 55.