In Brno, the functionalist café Era has opened with a delay

Brno - After several months of delay, the newly renovated Functionalist café Era has opened in the Brno district of Černá Pole. This stylish establishment, which draws on the tradition of Brno's café culture from the First Republic, is currently operating in a trial phase. David Kuchař from the civic association Studio 19, which operates the café, informed ČTK about this today. The opening of the café, which experienced its heyday in the 1920s, has been postponed several times and was originally scheduled for the turn of the year.
      Era was designed by Brno architect Josef Kranz (1901 to 1968) for café owner Josef Špunar. The café was built in 1929. In the late 1950s, it was nationalized, later serving as a beer house and storage. It is now owned by a private owner, and Studio 19 is renting the space.
      In the past year, the café underwent renovations costing 12 million crowns. Seven million crowns of this came from European grants. The renovations were overseen by architect Jan Velek, who aimed to preserve the café's original appearance. It is stark gray on the outside, but vibrant with colors on the inside.
      "The staircase was originally red, and there was also blue in the interior," Velek told ČTK some time ago. The architects reportedly uncovered the original colors using a nearly detective method, as they only had black-and-white photographs available.
      The color concept was said to be inspired by the Dutch interwar movement De Stijl, which worked exclusively with three primary colors: blue, yellow, and red. According to Velek, the building designed by Kranz was conceived in austere shapes based on the café in Dutch Rotterdam Café De Unie, which was designed by De Stijl architect Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud in 1925.
      The café is open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. "We will be in trial operation for about a week," Kuchař stated.