The Pilsen architect and builder František Beneš, born on the 13th of March 1879, was one of the most active designers in the West Bohemian capital. He attended the Secondary Technical School here and then gained work experience at the Pilsen studio of the renowned architect Alois Čenský. In the years 1899–1937, he worked at the City of Pilsen Building Authority. In that time, he collaborated with, among others, Kamil Hilbert, Viktorin Šulc, Hanuš Zápal and Josef Farkač, and was also active in the restoration of valuable historical objects (e.g. the building of the Town Hall and what is known as the Imperial House, Gerlachovský House and St. George’s Church in Pilsen-Doubravka).

Despite his traditional schooling in the fashion of 19th century historicism, František Beneš also tried to come to grips with the new stylistic directions in architecture: from the National style (Municipal Social Care Houses); to echoing ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement and the so-called rural revival (his own villa in Pilsen–Lochotín, the forester’s lodge in Zábělá); to Purism and Functionalism (the building of the City Technical Authority and Pavilion No. 7 in the Bory complex of the present-day University Pilsen Hospital). 

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