PATRICIAN HOUSE – MINCOVNÍ 33
Introduction
Patrician House No. 33 in Mincovní Street is preserved in its late 19th-century form, yet it contains a distinct Renaissance core incorporating remains of an early 16th-century fortification structure and a discovery adit dating from 1517. The house belonged to the so-called brewing-right houses, meaning it had the privilege to brew and sell beer, underlining its important position within the town.
The historical data were also based on information kindly provided by the current owner, Mr. Pinc.
Description
It is a broad, single-storey building in a Baroque to Classical architectural form. The façade is articulated by seven window axes on the upper floor and features a simple late Baroque entrance portal. The roof carries seven dormer windows.
Architectural elements
Numerous Renaissance construction elements have been preserved inside the building. The most prominent include masonry arches embedded in the wall mass, a Renaissance staircase built within the masonry, and the arch of the original carriage entrance, which was bricked up in 1947.
The most significant feature is the original fortification of the discovery adit, largely preserved within the structure of the house, including a loophole that today serves as an interior window.
History and owners
The earliest mention of the house dates from 1539, when after the town fire of 1538 it was owned by Georg Pibenn (Pieben). Another owner was Leonard Kempen, who sold the house in 1565 to Caspar Frank. The next record comes from 1637, when Wolf Topfer and Abraham Friedrich, a royal mint master, are listed as owners. Abraham’s son Solomon sold the house together with his uncle Hans Veit to Daniel Crouczsche.
In 1660 the house was purchased by Christoph Becken, and his family owned it until 1745, when Andreas Becken died. During the Becken family’s ownership, the building underwent a Baroque reconstruction. In 1782 Anna Dorothea Müller transferred the house to Johann Christoph Müller, who served as a syndic, a sworn municipal scribe in a town with capital jurisdiction.
In 1798 the house was acquired at auction for 1,000 guilders by Rosalie Braun, née Nedwidková. At that time, the property also included a half mining claim. It is possible that an inn operated here, consistent with the brewing right.
During the great town fire on 31 March 1873 the house burned down. Plans for its reconstruction were prepared by Ferdinand Fischer of Nová Role, and the builder was Joseph Seidl.
In 1945 Dr. Baumgartl is listed as owner; the house was nationalised under the Decrees of the President of the Republic. In 1947 it was handed over to the Jáchymov Uranium Mines. That year a reconstruction took place, during which the black kitchen was removed, the carriage entrance bricked up, and the façade adjusted to axial symmetry.
After 1989, rapid deterioration set in, exacerbated by tenants, vandals and metal scavengers. Although a controversial anti-radon measure was implemented in 1992, the condition of the house continued to decline.
In 1995 the Pinc family purchased the property and began its gradual restoration, which continues to this day. All wooden structures were replaced, the cellars reopened, and the discovery adit cleaned and made accessible to the public. The house was also declared a cultural monument. The most recent development is the opening of Café 1516 on the ground floor.
Adit
The discovery adit from 1517–1520 follows a branch of the Geschieber vein, also known as Stella. The original securing fortification is now part of the building’s core, including a preserved loophole window. The adit forms the beginning of the cellar spaces.
A unique feature is the preserved remnant of a 16th-century gravity-fed water supply system, representing an exceptional technical monument within the Czech Republic.
In 1992, the entrances to the cellars and thus to the adit were bricked up as part of anti-radon measures. These interventions worsened the situation. The masonry altered the hydrological conditions, causing water to accumulate behind the concrete barriers and rise into the walls. At the same time, natural ventilation was prevented, paradoxically increasing radon concentration.
Gravity-fed water supply
During the driving of the adit, miners encountered a fissure spring. The water initially drained away outside the mine workings, but after the construction of the house at the adit mouth, the outflow had to be addressed. The spring was captured within the adit using wooden troughs and pipes and directed into the cellar areas of the house, where it filled an approximately two-ton granite basin carved from a single block of stone.
The overflow from this basin was then carried by wooden piping through the house into the drainage system.
Fotogalerie: https://mipalfi.rajce.idnes.cz/Stola_v_dome_Pincovych/
