In the mid-1920s, a new building task opened up in Pilcʼs work – Sokol Halls. These would become one of his favourite topics in the future and he would be one of the most sought-after designers for them, usually in Moravia. The Lipník Sokolovna, together with the parallel one in Kojetin, stands at the beginning of this typological “line”.
The Sokol Union in Lipník was founded in 1892. Just two years later, the residents of the town began discussing the establishment of a building fund for a new gymnasium. At the beginning of the First World War the relations between the local Czechs and Germans became very heated and the realisation of the Sokolovna did not rank among the public interests of the town. An anonymous competition for the design of the Sokol Hall was held after the end of the war, in November 1924, when members of the Sokol took over the administration of the town. The firing of bricks for the actual construction began as early as 1921, when the factory owner František Wawerka lent his brickyard to the Sokols every Saturday, which significantly helped the whole project. The first place in the competition was not awarded, while the second went to Mojmír Kyselkaʼs project, which was probably too costly. Pilc was not awarded the prize because he did not deliver the project to the prescribed scale. Nevertheless, the town bought his proposal under the anonymous name “Disk”, with the condition that it be redesigned for a sum equal to the second place. The seven-member jury described Pilcʼs work as satisfactory and nicely elaborated. They were already able to appreciate the purist project, devoid of all decoration, which was to characterise most of the Sokol production in the future, identifying with the modern architectural culture of the young state.
One of the main criteria for the new Sokol Hall was versatility of use, not only for gymnastic purposes, but also to fulfil representative and cultural functions. In 1926 construction commenced on an irregular longitudinal plan with one underground floor and two more above ground level. Pilc employed his favourite compositional morphology here. In the main façade, the architect set the entrance door into the asymmetrical block of the buttress. The gymnasium is defined by four columns of windows set symmetrically above each other, which are separated by clean pilasters. On the façade, the horizontals of the cornices of each floor intersect with the verticals of the windows and pilasters at different levels.
The architect used the adjacent land for an outdoor training ground. There was an area for field sports, a marshalling area, and an exercise area flanked by an athletics track. Nowadays, these have been replaced by tennis courts, and later a football field was built.
In addition to the usual interior furnishings, the heart of which was a gymnasium complete with a stage with a trapdoor, the Sokolovna also had its own cinema booth. Construction proceeded with unusual rapidity, from 2 May 1926, when the ceremony of laying the memorial stone in the walls of the Sokolovna took place, to 5 December of the same year.
In the 1940s, minor modifications were made to the changing rooms and technical facilities. In 1941 the Sokol in Lipník was officially closed and the building began to be used for other purposes, mostly for the purposes of the occupying power.
The exterior façade has been preserved in its original form without significant modifications, but it deserves better care. Today the building is mainly used for sports, while during the season balls take place here.
IM (translation by SG)
Selected Literature
Karel Tůrek (ed.), Lipník nad Bečvou, město a okres, Lipník nad Bečvou 1933.
Bohumil Vaňák, Nikoli nejmenší na Moravě, Lipník nad Bečvou 1965.
Sources
Ivana Láníková (Málková), Architekt Alois Pilc a Přerov. Architektonická centra a periferie (Master’s degree thesis), Katedra dějin umění FFUP, Olomouc 2018.
Daniela Kaňáková, Architektura a urbanismus Lipníku nad Bečvou v letech 1900–1950 (Bachelor’s degree thesis), Katedra dějin umění FFUP, Olomouc 2011.
SOkA Přerov, Fond Sokol – tělocvičná jednota Lipník nad Bečvou, i. č. 4, pamětní kniha sokolovny.
Lipenské listy, č. 4, 22.1.1926, pp. 3–4.
Lipenské listy, č. 19, 7.5.1926, p. 2.
