“Today a fantasy, tomorrow a fact”, said the shoemaker J. A. Baťa at the time of his company’s greatest boom. And he had the only “American” city in the Czechoslovakia of the First Republic built in Zlín in line with this.
Baťa combined functionalist architecture and the latest technology with new methods for company management. And because he was true to the American maxim that time is money, he even established his office in the lift of his head office building in order to be able to manage the company as efficiently as possible. The “21” skyscraper was the highest building in Europe at the time of its construction. The furnishings of Baťa’s lift office recently underwent careful renovation, so you can see several period details including the sink and air-conditioning. On the top floor of “21”, you will find a terrace which is open all year round, from which a unique panoramic view opens out over the colony of Baťa houses.