Behind Jan Hird Pokorný

Arrival in New York on February 6, 1940

The life of Jan Hird Pokorný, a Czech architect settled in New York since 1940, is a chronicle of nearly a century. Born in Brno during the Austro-Hungarian Empire (May 25, 1914), he spent his youth in Prague. After the occupation, he fled through Sweden to New York, where he successfully designed and taught at Columbia University for more than sixty years. In 2005, he visited Prague to receive an honorary doctorate from the Czech Technical University and attended the opening of an exhibition of his lifelong work at the Fragner Gallery.

And it was truly an impressive body of work - in terms of scale, diversity, and the awards he received for it. After a single pre-war realization in our country (the Sykovec Hotel in the Highlands) and after a shortened repetition of studies in New York, he began his own designing in the 1940s. His first buildings were a factory and then his own house on 51st Street, where he had his studio and lived until his death. Among his later new buildings, the most notable were the university campuses in Hackettstown, Stony Brook, and the Bronx, featuring remarkable standalone buildings such as libraries, student clubs, and concert halls. Of course, the style of his work evolved over the years - from light glass constructions of the 1950s to more sculptural forms influenced by brutalism. However, they were always elegant forms, with vibrant interiors flooded with light, and in the case of the concert hall in the Bronx, with acoustics praised by the New York Philharmonic. In the 1970s, at an age when others consider retirement, he began a second phase of his work, connected with the reconstruction of historical buildings and important roles in the Arts Commission and later the Landmark Commission of New York.

In the garden of his house, around 2003

At that time, it was pioneering work, as the concept of preserving older buildings was just emerging in America. Jan Hird Pokorný reconstructed an entire block of originally industrial buildings in the South Seaport in Manhattan, but he also worked on the renovation of homes that are historically among the most valuable in New York - including a wooden house from 1765, where George Washington stayed. Some of Pokorný's final works included the restoration of the Battery maritime building with its stunning cast-iron facade in the Beaux-Arts style. By then, he was already ninety, yet he still supervised his studio and went to the architecture faculty once a week.

Professor Pokorný's vitality was incredible. I remember our first meeting in New York in 1996 when I accompanied him to the Czech National House, which he was partially renovating at the time. He nimbly climbed the scaffolding to check the state of the crown cornice but wouldn't let me up for fear I might fall since I wasn’t insured. With the same vitality, he could recall details of his studies with Antonín Engel in Prague, friendly chats with Greta Garbo in Manhattan, friendships with another famous Czech exile Antonín Raymond, work at the SOM studio, and meetings with Eliel Saarinen, Le Corbusier, and other legendary figures. He himself ultimately became a legend, especially in preservation circles, as only prominent figures like Jan H. Pokorný can chair a board of experts deciding the fate of New York's landmarks.