Department store Brouk a Babka in Brno

The department store from 1934 is one of the functionalist jewels built by the former classmates from a business school – Jaroslav Brouk and Josef Babka. The house went down in history of architecture also thanks to its exceptionally short development time – from the clearance of the former house to a completely furnished new house it took as little as 4 and a half months.

The Brouk a Babka company had been in operation since 1908 and it became famous for its modern buildings (with escalators and pneumatic tube transport systems) as well as for providing mail order services. Unfortunately, the Communist coup in 1948 led to the end of this thriving company. Today a branch of the Czech shoe company Baťa, which is well-know abroad, has its seat in the former department store, so you can explore the house from within as well. The mullioned window bands provide lighting for the whole interior and the slightly receding uppermost floor serves as an administrative base. The arrangement of the shop windows is also remarkable.