About the site
The wafer factory of the Opava-based Fiedor family (who founded their company in 1840) was established in the early 20th century on Olomoucká Street, which followed the historic road to Olomouc. The area along this main thoroughfare of the Jaktař suburb underwent significant urbanization after 1872, when the Central Railway Station (now Opava západ) was built, linking Opava with Krnov, Bruntál, and Olomouc. This development brought not only major public buildings (the courthouse, the Provincial Hospital, and the Provincial Psychiatric Hospital), but also numerous prestigious residential houses, mostly in historicist and Art Nouveau styles. The street was considered a “good address”. By 1905 it was served by the electric tram, and prominent Opava figures built their homes here, including the builder A. Geldner, the painter A. Zdrazila and the director of the Provincial Hospital, F. Pendl.
One of the properties here – the house of Marie Polatzeková at the start of Olomoucká Street, then no. 8 – was bought in 1901 by Marie, widow of Theodor Fiedor, who planned to expand wafer production and replace the firm’s outdated premises on Masařská Street. The house, with its large yard and garden, was demolished, and in 1901–1902 a new three-wing factory building with an Art Nouveau façade was erected to the designs of the Opava construction firm Zdralek & Kulka. The side wings housed the production areas, while the street-front wing contained representative retail premises on the ground floor and residential space above.
During the first quarter of the 20th century, the factory underwent several alterations and extensions. The most important included the addition in 1913 of two parallel wings facing Provaznická Street, and, in 1922–1923, the adaptation of the cellar for chocolate production, the construction of a two-storey wing on Provaznická Street, and the addition of a second floor to the left wing, all to designs by Opava builder Erwin Friedel. Friedel also prepared plans in 1927 to add a second floor to the residential building.
In the early 1930s, Oskar Fiedor, then owner of the company, planned a major reconstruction of the residential, commercial and administrative building, which was structurally and functionally linked to other parts of the factory complex. Surviving drawings of the first floor and attic from 1931 show that his first choice was the already renowned Vienna-based architect and Krnov native Leopold Bauer (1872–1938), who had previously completed two projects in Opava: The Chamber of Commerce and Trade building and the Breda & Weinstein department store. Bauer’s design, however, was never realized, and Fiedor subsequently commissioned the Krnov architect Oskar Wittek (1906–?), who proposed an adaptation in the spirit of New Objectivity. The original three-storey terraced building was raised by an additional storey with a reinforced-concrete structure and unified by a new façade clad in dark and light travertine. The smooth frontage, articulated by thirteen window bays and partly reflecting the layout of the earlier façade, is accentuated on the left by a cantilevered, prism-shaped oriel with staggered, cascading sides. Together with a projecting bay on the right, it counterbalances the horizontal composition of the façade. The oriel also serves as a point de vue when looking along Čapkova (then Kudlichova) Street. With its orthogonally geometric design, smooth wall surfaces and heightened massing, the building disrupted the previously uniform character of the streetscape.
The building, set on a rhomboid ground plan, has a three-tract layout with a central corridor, two staircases and a lift. The ground floor was occupied by shops, while the first and second floors were divided into a left wing with offices and a right wing with two luxury flats. Breaking away from the traditional layout inherited from the earlier building, the second-floor flat was designed in a modern spirit: it featured a living hall opening onto the entrance hall that led to the main living room. The hall was connected to a conservatory, separated by a glazed partition. The flat also contained a luxurious bathroom accessible from both the bedroom and the corridor. Among the surviving features is a decorative radiator cover imitating a fireplace, with relief decoration by the noted Silesian sculptor Josef Obeth. The relief depicts a scene from Hansel and Gretel, as an allegory of temptation and excess, together with motifs linked to the company’s production (kneading dough, baking wafers). Parts of the interiors, which combine Art Deco with New Objectivity, have survived to this day (for example, the second-floor flat with its bathroom fittings), while other sections, including the layout, have been compromised by later utilitarian modifications.
RR
