cz

Lacina's Factory

Date 1936–1937
Architect Miroslav Lorenc
Code Z14
Address 2. května 3070, Zlín
Public transport Public transport: Padělky I. (TROL 4, 5)
GPS 49.2315089N, 17.6760114E

In addition to the Baťa company, which gradually built its factory premises on land near the railway station, other local entrepreneurs and factory owners also had production buildings built in Zlín. Similar industrial plants were located, for example, around Kvítková Street, but also in newly developing parts of the city. One example is the factory for the manufacturer of women's shoes Bohumil Lacina, which still stands today at the corner of 2. května street (formerly called Zálešenská) and Padělky I (still unnamed in 1936). It is one of two factory buildings designed by Miroslav Lorenc in 1936, the other being Jirousek's factory in Lešetín.

The corner, two-storey building with a basement under part of the structure and a flat roof has a floor plan in the shape of the letter U. The framework of the building consists of a load-bearing reinforced concrete structure. Thanks to the use of face bricks and white reinforced concrete columns, it can at first glance resemble the exterior of the Construction Department of the Baťa company. However, Lacina's factory differs from her standardised production buildings by the span between the columns (5 instead of 6.15 metres), as well as the number of fields it contains. The fields between the columns are filled with window openings that complement the plastered plinths. It follows from the planning documentation that the factory should have been fitted with a large neon sign with the name of the owner on the side facing the main street. 120 people were to work in the factory, half of them women. In the central part of the building a U-shaped staircase connected the floors. Cloakrooms on the ground floor and toilets on each floor were also attached to the staircase.
 
On the ground floor, the dispatch and chopping and underlay workshop, and the warehouse for finished goods and packing were located. In the west wing there was a garage for two cars and a chemical warehouse. In the last module, the eastern part was only on the ground floor, and a porter's room and the main entrance were inserted here. In the upper floors there were sewing workshops, a model shop, a warehouse, and a typing room. Soon after completion in 1937, the factory was extended, first in 1941 and then five years later the gatehouse was modified. 
 
As early as 1939, Bohumil Lacina had an apartment building built opposite the factory, which he rented out mainly to his employees. The author of the proposal is the Baťa architect Antonín Vítek, working here on a separate contract outside the Construction Department. After the war, the factory was confiscated, and in 1950 its building was adapted into a home for industrial youth. In 1957 it was renamed the collective house of Emil Zátopek, managed by the Rudý říjen national enterprise. The former workshops served as rooms, and the west wing became a dining room with a common room. In the 1970s, the building served as the Barum corporate headquarters. 
 
Today, the building is used for commercial rentals and is awaiting complete renovation. The original appearance is disturbed by the division of windows and the addition of cladding, but also by the amount of visual smog. The inner block was insulated and plastered. The original form is largely unrecognisable, but the industrial character of the building is still legible.