Anglobanka, bank building on Masaryk Square in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Anglobanka is a three-storey bank building on the north side of Masaryk Square in Hradec Králové, designed by Josef Gočár in 1923. Its rondocubist facade has a smooth frieze above the ground floor and a massive cornice above the second floor, dividing it into three horizontal bands. The top section features an arched attic ending in repeated M shapes, and the corner is concave. The main entrance is clad in polished Swedish granite.

Alois Lípa began building on the plot in 1922; in July 1923 the Anglo-Czechoslovak Bank bought the unfinished structure and gave the final design to Josef Gočár, who had been entrusted with it in March 1923. Builder Josef Fňouk carried out the work, and Gočár also raised the neighbouring houses by one storey with massive attics to form a single front. The building has been a protected cultural monument since 1958.

The building displays architectural choices that reflected how financial institutions wanted to present themselves during that era. Walking past it today, you see the design standards that banks set for themselves in early 20th-century Czech cities.

The building fills most of the northern front of Masarykovo náměstí, with its main entrance framed in polished Swedish granite. The concave corner and the arcaded attic ending in repeated M shapes are best seen from the square. The monument of T. G. Masaryk in front of the building was completed in 1926.

The building preserves construction details that were typical of Czech banking architecture from that era and are rarely seen in this form today. These elements show how specifically and carefully financial institutions designed their buildings back then.