Some valued buildings by Karel Řepa in Pardubice are deteriorating

Karel Řepa, train station in Pardubice

Pardubice - The number of buildings designed for Pardubice clients by architect Karel Řepa during the interwar and post-war periods are in very good condition, and their owners take good care of them. Unfortunately, the summer stadium and the train station are deteriorating, which is a great pity, said the architect's son Miroslav Řepa to ČTK today. It was at the train station that people today commemorated the 120th anniversary of the birth of his student Josip Plečnik.
    "I feel particularly sorry for the summer stadium, about which it is unclear what will happen, will happen. The station is part of my father's peak work, it is not decided who should take on the reconstruction, especially of the hotel part, which is in a tragic state, and then the entire façade," said Řepa.
    Black and white photographs conveyed Řepa's buildings in Pardubice to the people. In addition to the functionalist station, there are, for example, the current food school, previously an industrial museum, the office building of the health insurance company in Olšinky, the Jas cinema in the city center, or the apartment building with milk delicacies on the ground floor on Míru Avenue.
    "Karel Řepa brought quality architecture to smaller towns; other cities can only envy Pardubice for not having an architect of his caliber. His buildings are characterized by a mixture of monumentality, picturesque quality, and charm," said architectural historian Pavel Panoch to ČTK.
    Řepa settled permanently in Pardubice in the 1920s. The train station is his most significant building. He designed the state contract together with Josef Danda and Karel Kalvoda at the end of the 1940s, and the construction took ten years until 1959. The station has a spacious check-in hall, a large hotel, and a cinema in the basement.
    Besides public function buildings in Pardubice, Řepa also designed family houses, an example being a smaller enclave of villas by Matiční lake. The villa of Viktor Kříž has been a cultural monument since 2007.
    The architect often employed raw brick, smooth or rough plaster in his designs. He was likely inspired by English houses and the motto "My house, my castle", as the houses often have bay windows or turrets, added Panoch.
    "Private individuals realized what kind of buildings they were dealing with and restored those objects to a beautiful state," said Řepa.