MERCHANT HOUSE NO. 139
Introduction
House No. 139 was constructed as a representative burgher residence combining residential, commercial and storage functions. This is evidenced not only by its substantial street façade but also by the remarkably rich architectural treatment of its interiors. The building also played an important role in the town’s communication infrastructure, serving as a post house known as the Old Post Office.
History
The structure originated during the town’s greatest prosperity in the sixteenth century. Its architectural quality reflected both the wealth of its owner and the high level of local building culture. After the great town fire in the nineteenth century, the façade was rebuilt, while the internal layout and vaulting system largely retained their Renaissance character.
In later years the house was demolished. Its most valuable architectural element – the Renaissance entrance portal – was, however, preserved. For a time it was stored in the premises of the municipal technical services, where it gradually deteriorated. Its rescue and reinstallation were ensured by Jiří Kaucký Sr. The portal was subsequently transferred to House No. 145, where it remains today.
Description
The building was a two-storey frontage house with seven window axes and a gabled roof covered with slate. The façade was articulated by pilasters, profiled cornices and rusticated stucco treatment at ground-floor level. Window-sill cornices and rectangular stucco panels rhythmically structured the elevation, and the main cornice beneath the roof was strongly profiled.
The dominant feature was the exceptionally high-quality Renaissance entrance portal dated 1541. It consists of richly profiled stone jambs with a semicircular head, in whose spandrels are relief medallions depicting a female and a male figure. The aedicule-type portal is framed by baluster columns with leafy capitals. Above them rests a richly profiled cornice supporting a superstructure pierced by a transom window divided by a broad central mullion. The upper section features a window, volutes, a mascaron and a segmental termination bearing the date and the builder’s monogram 15 HB 41, repeated in the field above the transom. In the side medallions appears, on the left, a youth with a laurel wreath, and on the right, a bearded man wearing a calotte. The portal ranks among the finest Renaissance stoneworks in the town.
The internal layout preserved the original Renaissance ground plan. Both ground floor and upper floor were predominantly covered by cross vaults with groins. Corridors and rooms were articulated by transverse arches, segmental passages and typical Jáchymov consoles. At the rear of the house there was a spiral staircase with an elaborately designed vault continuing up to the second floor. In terms of vaulting, the interiors were among the richest in the town.
Heritage Value
House No. 139 represented a typical yet exceptionally high-quality example of a multi-part Jáchymov patrician house. Its portal was created within the circle of builders associated with the construction of the dean’s church, particularly Hans Köpp and the stonemason Jörg of Bamberg, and ranks among the finest Saxon-influenced Renaissance portals in the town. Although the building itself no longer exists, the preserved portal remains an important testimony to the town’s building culture in the first half of the sixteenth century.
