The gallery in Pilsen has an archive of architect Karel Lhota, a colleague of Loos

Plzeň - A part of the archive of architect Karel Lhota, the most significant collaborator of Adolf Loos in Plzeň, has been acquired by the West Bohemian Gallery in Plzeň. It includes a collection of photographs capturing Loos's apartments in Plzeň after their completion, as well as works by Lhota himself. These valuable images can assist in any potential revitalization of Loos's interiors and for research and publication activities. CTK was informed by the curator of the architecture collection, Petr Domanický, who presented a selection from the archive to the public today.
    "We learned about the existence of the archive last year while preparing the exhibition Art of the Czech West. Not much was known about Lhota, apart from the fact that he collaborated with Loos on the design of the Müller Villa in Prague," said Domanický. The gallery therefore contacted Lhota's daughter Dagmar Lhotová-Slabá and recently acquired part of the private materials from her.
    Lhota lived in Plzeň from 1925 to 1932, serving as a professor at the technical school while also working as an architect. Loos, who secured a commission here in 1927, offered him a collaboration. They worked together on apartments in Plzeň as well as the Müller Villa. "However, Lhota also designed interiors independently, and he created stage designs for the Plzeň theater where his wife worked as an actress," Domanický said. According to him, he also sought to popularize modern architecture in conservative Plzeň.
    The collection of dozens of images acquired by the gallery captures not only the most informatively valuable photographs of Loos's and Lhota's work, but also the site of the now non-existent Sokol stadium from 1929. It was built in Bory as a temporary structure for the extra-Praha Sokol gymnastics festival. This groundbreaking structure of contemporary architecture was designed by Václav Neckář, another significant promoter of modern architecture in Plzeň.
    The gallery also purchased photo albums from Lhota's time in Plzeň, which contain family photos and snapshots from social life. Among them are also photographs of Loos's buildings from Vienna and Paris.
    The third part consists of reproductions related to the activities of Lhota's father, also an architect, Josef Lhota. He led the Plzeň technical school from 1905 to 1912 and designed both private and public buildings. "His father also published and did not like the Art Nouveau style, which, unlike his son, he regarded as a contemporary issue," Domanický added. The archive of Karel Lhota significantly aided in the preparation of the exhibition "Loos - Plzeň - Contexts" in the exhibition hall "13".