Novákovy garáže, Functionalist garage building in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
Novákovy garáže is a three-storey reinforced-concrete garage with brick infill, built in 1932, occupying the north side of náměstí 5. května in Hradec Králové. Its rounded corners and long bands of tabular windows with blue frames are joined by a central six-metre-wide circular ramp under a copper dome with a chimney. Each floor held 51 parking spaces, and two car washes occupied the rounded corners.
Jaroslav Novák, a Laurin & Klement representative, had already built Czechoslovakia's first standalone garage on another site in 1910–11. After the city reassigned that plot in 1932, he commissioned motorist Josef Fňouk to design this replacement, which builder Josef Vyleťal completed on 11 December 1932. Nationalised after World War II, it became a technical service station in 1962 and a cultural monument in 1981.
The garage structure represents an early example of functionalist architecture in the Czech Republic and received cultural monument status in 1981.
The building fills the whole north side of náměstí 5. května, with side wings following the adjacent streets; the rounded corners and the blue-framed window bands are best seen from the square. The central six-metre circular ramp links the floors, and original garage bays survive on the second and third floors. Original advertising for motoring products remains on the outer wall of the entrance ramp.
The central core of the building is a circular ramp 6 metres wide, linking the parking floors; it ends in a copper dome with a chimney, and its spiralling windows form the most conspicuous element of the north facade. On the outer side of the access ramp, several original advertisements for motoring products survive; the wall was once covered with them entirely.
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