The modernisation of railway transport in the interwar period led to the double-tracking of the line between Hranice and Púchov. The architect Josef Danda, later to become famous for his numerous railway buildings, designed a new station building for the town of Hranice which was to become a model of this type of building in the future. However, these efforts were interrupted by the unrest at the beginning of the war and the project, modified by the architect Jiří Žalman, was not realised until almost a decade later.
The modernisation of railway transport in Hranice began in 1935 with the construction of two covered platforms with an underpass. This was to be followed by a new railway building, for which a project was drawn up by Miloš Fikr. During the work, however, the requirements changed and the new design was entrusted to the architect Josef Danda, who was working for the railway directorate in Olomouc at the time. He created a design for a medium-sized railway interchange station. In addition to operational premises, it also envisaged social facilities, such as a restaurant, but also sleeping accommodation for passengers. A hotel as part of the passenger service was certainly very ambitious for its time and given the location of the station. The intention was to create a prototype station building a long way from the town centre and at the same time to make rail transport more attractive. The approved project was redesigned by the office of the Directorate of Railways in Brno under the direction of the architect Jiří Žalman. As a result of political and war events, the work was not resumed until 1946 and the building was not completed according to the modified project until after the coup of 1948.
The entire station is formed by an amalgamation of variously shaped cubic volumes around a spacious central hall, which is accessed by a staircase from the underpass. Passengers were served by a standard small closed waiting room, ticket offices, luggage storage, sales areas, and sanitary facilities. The vision of a restaurant with accommodation was also fulfilled.
The rational layout of the necessary built-up space is elevated by details that are characteristic of late functionalism. These are white plaster and coloured metal structures, as we know them from Dandaʼs design of the station in Teplice nad Bečvou. Now the looming drabness of the buildings is softened by sensitively chosen materials and variable detail. The quartzite plaster is complemented by red glazed stoneware bricks and travertine, and windows of various formats, including small circular ones, are complemented by rows of similar glass blocks.
In 2023, the station building and the surrounding area were in a dismal state. The building itself would deserve a reconstruction as sensitive as that performed on its “older sibling” in Teplice nad Bečvou for its remarkable, albeit inconspicuous, degree of authenticity.
NK (translation by SG)
Selected literature
Tomáš Pospěch, Hranice, Teplice nad Bečvou a okolí. Architektura 1815–2018, Hranice 2018.
Karel Hájek, Architekt Josef Danda, Praha 2007.
Tomáš Pospěch, Hranická architektura 1815–1948, Hranice 2000.
Josef Moucha, Nádraží architekta Josefa Dandy, Architektura ČSR, 1986, č. 1, pp. 39–40.
Jiří Štursa, Soudobá architektura nádražních budov, Architektura ČSR, 1973, č. 10, pp. 496–509.
