Werner Karl, Purde Gustav

Karl Werner came from the Rýmařov region and was active in Opava from 1906. He started his career with the Migliarina construction company, contributing, for example, to the ambulatory at the Teutonic Order Hospital on Popská Street (1914). In 1916, he established his own firm, which in 1916–⁠1917 carried out smaller alterations for the Teutonic Order (hospital, school, provostry, and the women’s convent). Gustav Purde became Werner’s partner in 1922. Purde first worked as the head of the concrete company Ed. Ast & Co. in Split, and in 1919, he moved to Opava. From 1938, he served as chairman of the Builders’ Union in Opava. Werner & Purde initially based the business at Pásmo státní dráhy (now Husova Street) 24, where Werner also lived (Purde lived next door at no. 26). In the 1930s, the firm relocated to Hřbitovní Street (now Hany Kvapilové Street) 9–11, into the semi-detached house they had designed for themselves.
Werner & Purde’s portfolio was diverse, ranging from technical structures (bridges, weirs, etc.) to public buildings and private homes, with their architectural style tailored to each client’s needs. As a result, their work ranges from decorative Neo-Biedermeier and Heimatstil with rustic accents (characteristic of rural Sudeten architecture) to the stripped-back forms of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Their early projects followed Neo-Biedermeier principles, as seen in the (now-demolished) house designed for Jan Hrbáč on Masařská Street, an exhibition pavilion in the municipal park, or the conversion of the Niedermeyer Summer Café on Beethovenovo náměstí (Beethoven Square) (now náměstí Svobody / Svobody Square). They applied Heimatstil chiefly outside Opava – e.g., a forester’s lodge in Suchá Rudná, a mill in Kyjovice, and municipal houses in Andělská Hora – as well as on the city’s outskirts, such as the houses built for Anton Görlich (Gogolova Street 1572/13, 1927–⁠1928) and Hedvika Rother (U Dubového mlýna Street 1706/9, 1930).
In the 1927 Opava housing competition, they received a prize in the “officials’ houses” category (proposal “Klein aber mein”) and third place for “farmsteads” (“Landluft”), and they drew up a plan for a housing estate for the Association of Builders of Western Silesia. These designs often featured gabled roofs with dormers, timber cladding, shutters, and corner turrets. For their own semi-detached house and in projects such as the 1936 refurbishment of Krnovská Street 4, they employed a decorative approach.
From the late 1920s, Werner and Purde realized several modern works in the spirit of New Objectivity – a house with a garage for Franz Ludwig (Lepařova Street 1417/12, 1926; later expanded with a vulcanizing workshop and offices in 1930) and the Teutonic Order Hospital (Popská Street 222/11, 1927–⁠1928) – both among the firm’s finest achievements. In 1929–⁠1931, they built the Spa Hotel in Karlova Studánka to the design by Anton Köstler. After the First World War, the firm was placed under national administration. The subsequent fate of both builders is unknown, though they were most likely expelled to Germany.

RR