Alois Čenský

Biography
Architect and professor of civil engineering, representative of Czech Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau, Alois Čenský was born on June 22, 1868, in Beroun, house number 54, in a family of carpenters. In the early 1870s, the family moved to Plzeň and in 1875 to Smíchov, where they frequently changed residences.
He graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague (1892) and, as an assistant to Prof. Jiří Pacold (1834 Chrudim – 1907 Prague), collaborated on his works on the construction of buildings and the statics of their structures. A deep interest in the scientific basis of construction became a significant feature of the future professor’s personality. From 1896 to 1907, he taught at industrial schools of construction in Plzeň, Písek, and Smíchov.
In 1908, he was appointed extraordinary professor of civil engineering and the science of building materials at the Czech Technical University in Prague, and in 1912 he became a regular professor; he served as the dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at CTU in Vodičkova Street several times. He was the first Czech architect to receive the title of Doctor of Technical Sciences at CTU (1906). From 1903 to 1921, he was the editor of the magazine Architektonický obzor and the chairman of the Group of Architects of the Czechoslovak Engineers Association.
With his wife Antonia, née Hendl (1876 Beroun – 1904), whom he married in 1898, he had a daughter, Jiřina; after his wife's death, he remarried in 1907 to Marie Seeman (1884 – 1964). From this marriage, he had children Marie, Vladimír, and Jana.
He designed many public and private buildings. Most of them were entrusted to him based on competition proposals awarded first prizes in public competitions – the savings banks in Přerov and Hořovice (1893 and 1894), a Sokol hall in Dvůr Králové (1894), in 1895 he designed several pavilions for the Czechoslovak Ethnographic Exhibition, and with Karel Hugo Kepka in 1896, he designed a Sokol hall in Malá Strana (U Lanové dráhy 609/3), built a year later by the Hradčany builder František Šafařík.
In 1898, a mason from Klenče, Jakub Knopf, built the chapel of St. Jacob in Postřekov (Domažlice district); in 1898, he successfully participated in a competition for the Municipal Society in Plzeň.
In 1900, he created designs for the district court and the Smíchov district house. In 1902, he planned a semi-detached house at the corner of Sokolovská Street and Šaldova 466-67 (implemented in 1905).
In 1903, he developed designs for the Vinohrady Theatre (implemented in 1905-07), as well as the Czech Commercial School in České Budějovice; in 1905, he drew the pseudo-Gothic cemetery church of St. Wenceslaus in Horní Stakorách near Mladá Boleslav. At that time, the construction of the National House (later the House of Blacksmiths) and the Smíchov market at 14th October Square was already being prepared (completed in 1908).
In 1911, according to his plans, houses were built near Kramář's residence for the builder Ladislav Myslík (Na Baště sv. Tomáše 225/1) and the adjacent No. 3 for chief engineer Kohout.
Before the war, he also designed the City Theatre and Hotel U beránka in Náchod; in 1914, he participated with František Roith in a competition for a theatre in Brno.
During the years 1912-25, he worked on the reconstruction of the former Cistercian convent in Zbraslav.
After the war, he worked on the castle in Komořany (residential parts and tower), two colonies in Modřany, and a garden city in Točná near Zbraslav – this was only partially realized. In 1927, he also gained second place in the competition for bridging the Nusle Valley (in collaboration with brothers Vyhnálek).
He died in Prague on December 29, 1954, and is buried at the Malvazinky Cemetery in Prague (section UI, grave No. 61).