A bank branch of the early 1920s by Josef Gočár: a rounded corner, a mansard crown and two reliefs of Industry and Agriculture over the door.
At a glance
The building at the corner of Panská and Jindřišská was built in 1922–1923 as the Prague branch of the Brno Bank (Brněnská banka), to a design by Josef Gočár. The National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) names its main motifs as the rounded corner, the projecting crowning cornice, the “mansard” top storey and cubist-inflected decoration, and records two large figural reliefs by Karel Dvořák over the entrance. It now houses the NYX Hotel.
Key facts
- Where: Panská 1308/9, at the corner with Jindřišská, Nové Město, Prague 1
- Built: 1922–1923, as the Prague branch of the Brno Bank
- Architect: Josef Gočár
- Sculpture: two reliefs by Karel Dvořák over the entrance, Industry and Agriculture, dated 1923–1924 in the NPÚ record
- Heritage record: entered in the NPÚ inventory of architecture (Památkový katalog, catalogue no. 2000003668); Prague City Tourism describes it as a listed building
- Current use: NYX Hotel Prague
- Coordinates: 50.08402, 14.42793 · open in Google Maps
History
The Brno Bank built its Prague branch on a corner site in the New Town, one block from Wenceslas Square. The NPÚ record attaches the project to Josef Gočár and dates it 1922–1923; the record also lists the alternative name “apartment house” (obytný dům).
The sculpture was part of the design. The NPÚ inventory describes two large reliefs by Karel Dvořák from 1923–1924: one on the theme of industry, with miners and a smith with his helper, and one on the theme of agriculture and thrift. Photographs on Wikimedia Commons caption the same two panels as allegories of industry and of agriculture.
The building has since changed use. Prague City Tourism describes the NYX Hotel as housed in the listed building of the former Brno Bank by Josef Gočár; the NPÚ inventory record itself does not state an individual protection, and we report both.
What you see
The photograph shows the corner from the street. The facade is in two tones, a pale render framed by warm reddish-brown stone and trim, and it curves round the corner in a continuous bay that rises through the upper floors. The windows are set in tight vertical strips between shallow pilasters, and horizontal bands run between the storeys, so that the surface reads as a grid. At the top a projecting cornice is followed by a dark, set-back storey under a steep roof, the mansard the heritage record mentions.
The ground floor is faced in darker stone. Over the entrance on the corner are the two relief panels by Karel Dvořák, crowded with figures. The hotel’s vertical banners hang on the corner bay.
Practical information
- The building is a hotel; the facades and the reliefs can be seen from the street at any time.
- The Mucha Museum is a few doors along Panská, at no. 7.
Getting there
Panská runs between Na Příkopě and Jindřišská, one block from Wenceslas Square. The metro stations Můstek and Náměstí Republiky are both within a short walk, and trams run along Jindřišská.
Nearby
- Alfons Mucha Museum, in the Kaunic Palace on Panská.
- Koruna Palace, Prague, at the corner of Wenceslas Square and Na Příkopě.
- U Čížků House, a classicist corner house of 1839 on Na Příkopě.
Sources
- Památkový katalog (NPÚ), Brněnská banka, pražská pobočka: architect, dates, main motifs; with the linked records of the two reliefs by Karel Dvořák.
- Prague City Tourism, NYX Hotel Prague: the hotel in the listed building of the former Brno Bank by Josef Gočár.
- ČÚZK, RÚIAN address register: Panská 1308/9, Nové Město.
- Wikimedia Commons, photographs by JiriMatejicek of Praha Nove Mesto Panska 9 a and b (the two reliefs) and c (the building as Hotel NYX).
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