Bernard Weinstein department store and residential building

Rašínova Street (formerly Hlavní), leading from the east to today's náměstí Míru, underwent a major transformation during the 1930s. The existing old buildings were supplemented by modern houses in the functionalist style combining commercial and residential use. At night, the street shone with neon lights, indicating the transformation of the historic centre into a modern city. The house of Bernard Weinstein, the owner of the fashion salon, designed in 1935 by the Brno architect Max Tintner, also contributed to this development. The Weinstein family belonged to a small group of Jewish merchants who did business in Zlín in the interwar period. On the eastern edge of today's square, the Weinsteins owned the house where they lived and at the same time ran a shop on the ground floor. They bought another plot of land on Rašínova Street in addition to the plot on the square. In 1935, a plan was drawn up to build a generous corner commercial and residential building on both adjoining plots. Its construction was divided into two stages, but only the first part in Rašínova Street was realised. The reasons that led to the commissioning of Max Tintner, an architect of Jewish origin, are not known; at the time of the construction of this house, he was 28 years old.

The house stands on a narrow plot, with the longer side orientated towards the street. The three-storey building with a flat roof has a basement and a reinforced concrete structure with brick infills. The ground floor is divided into three business units with two entrances. One of these entrances also serves as a way in to the dwelling, which is accessible via a U-shaped staircase. On the first floor, where the Weinstein family lived, there were three living rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a pantry, a maid's room, two toilets, and a waiting room with a reception room that was connected by a staircase to the business premises on the ground floor. On the second floor there were two two-room housing units, while on the third floor there were four bachelor apartments and a caretaker's apartment. One of the tenants was Robert Zezula, owner of a licensed electrical and mechanical plant for Philips. The basement is divided into several rooms and offered the comfort of laundry and central heating.

At the time of the construction of Weinstein's house, the position of city architect was held by František Lýdie Gahura; he consulted and approved the submitted architectural proposals. For example, it was ensured that the depth of the bay windows did not disrupt the street line. In his comments on Tintner's project, he advised against the originally-proposed brick strip between the windows. A sample of the colour of the facade had to be submitted for approval.

The resulting facade of the house consists of distinctive horizontal strips. On the ground floor there are glazed shop windows, while the protruding large bay window is divided by window openings running flush with the coloured glass cladding set in an iron structure. Regularly-spaced three-section windows alternate with corner windows. The upper part of the bay window extending from the first to the second floor serves the apartments on the fourth floor as a balcony terminated by a subtle railing. The design also included an inscription - advertising on the facade located on the side of the house.

In 1941, the Weinsteins had to sell the house. Some members of the family died in concentration camps, while three sons managed to get abroad. After 1948, Weinstein's sons were not allowed to continue the business, their relatives became wardens in their own house, which then gradually fell into disrepair in the second half of the century. The generous apartment on the first floor was divided into two residential units. In the 1980s, the facade was renovated.

The original corner house was demolished in 1983, and house no. 180 on Rašínova Street is now surrounded by the Zlaté Jablko shopping centre. The Bernard Weinstein House is an example of quality construction of the 1930s, created independently of the Baťa company, bringing elements of Brno functionalism to Zlín. Architect Max Tintner did not build another house in Zlín. He set up his office in Brno, where several tenement houses were built according to his designs in the city centre and in the Černá Pole neighbourhood.