Jan Antonín Baťa Street

Jan Antonín Baťa Street represents the most recent stage in the development of the city of Zlín. It runs parallel to Tomáše Bati Avenue through the former factory premises from the former gatehouse to the buildings, which in the last numbering of buildings in the area bore the designation ninety-one (ie. in the row closest to the of Tomáš Baťa Avenue) and ninety-two (in the second row).

Almost all of these buildings were built in the 1920s and 1930s, with the exception of buildings No. 52 and 62 in the area affected by the bombing during World War II, and the western part of Building No. 81. No. 62 and No. 81 were built in the 40's, while No. 52 was built in the first half of the 1960s. Building No. 32 underwent a radical reconstruction in the 1980s. The street was named in 2004 and in its current form is, especially in its first part, an example of the quality revitalisation of a large industrial area and its successful connection with the city centre. Thanks to the fact that important public buildings of regional importance, shops, restaurants, and a wide range of services are concentrated here, people from all over the city and the Zlín region come here every day. 

At the very end of the 20th century, after an era of dynamic development, there was a decline in Zlín caused, and at the same time symbolised, by the termination of production in the Svit factory complex, the former Baťa plant. After 1995, Zlín faced the problem of how to make this large brownfield part of the city structure, and how to give it a dignified and functional content. To this end a factory gatehouse has been opened, and revitalisation of the train and bus station area is planned.

In the former plant, in two former factory buildings, symbolically referred to by Baťa's numbering as "fourteen and fifteen" and connected through a generous piazzetta, the 14|15 Baťa Institute was created, consisting of a museum, library, and gallery. One of the buildings of the Tomáš Baťa University (inaugurated in 2014) has grown in its proximity. Today, the mixed-use building No. 32 and especially the symbol of the factory complex, the Baťa era and the entire city, building No. 21, called the Zlín skyscraper, represent a successful example of revitalisation on Jan Antonín Baťa Street. 

Today, the office of the Zlín Region is located in the building from which Jan Antonín Baťa intended to manage the operation of the entire Baťa Group in the late 1930s, from a mobile office located in a car in the lift. The skyscraper is therefore not only a physical icon of the city, but also a symbol that reflects the history of Zlín in the 20th and 21st centuries: the building, which was originally intended for the management of a private company, is now the seat of the region. The essence is no longer the administration of a private or state enterprise, but public administration.

 

 

ECH