The hydroelectric power plant in the settlement of Háj near the village of Třeština is an exceptionally important technical and architectural monument connected with the development of electrification in northern Moravia. The local mill is documented as early as the 14th century, and in the 19th century it was acquired by the Plhák family. It was Hubert Plhák (1859–1934) who decided to build a power plant in 1894 that would power the mill wheels and machines at his sawmill. However, after four years the mill burned down, and the owner was helped by the cooperative dairy in Třeština to restore the power plant. For this purpose, they founded První moravská elektrárna s.r.o. in Hájský mlýn near Mohelnice, which became the first cooperative power plant in the monarchy and the village of Třeština the first electrified village in Moravia. In 1909–1912 Hubert Plhák built an Art Nouveau building for the power plant, which supplied electricity to 70 surrounding villages. In 1919, Plhák handed over the business to his sons Karl and Radomír, who decided to build a completely new power plant on a newly established artificial riverbed. Karl's wife Ellen (née Hervertová) approached architect Pavel Janák with this intention. However, the clients were not satisfied with his design, which combined both functions in one building, and so they turned to another equally important representative of Czech modernism, Jan Kotěra. He recommended his best students, who were currently working in his studio, Bohuslav Fuchs and Josef Štěpánek. The young architects designed two separate power plant buildings and residential villas. Their design was implemented within 14 months by the Olomouc firm of Bernard Sychravý. And in 1922, the power plant was put into operation.
The power plant on a concrete base, supported directly in the drive by a massive pillar, has a symmetrical facade decorated with arched and geometric motifs, broken by factory windows illuminating the central hall. It houses two turbines and two generators and is dominated by a switchboard made of marble with brass controls. The central hall is complemented by a lower engine room and operational parts for water supply and manipulation of the sluice gates. Its identically composed side facades are terminated by a roof rounded into a quarter circle and are again decorated with elements of a rondocubist character, which can also be found in the interior of the power plant.
Pavel Zatloukal perceives its architecture completely symbolically: “Energy seems to rise from the water to the crown of the building, from where the rays of electrical wires transmit it to the network. The rounded roof and arched motifs of the deep red building constantly remind us of what is not visible from the outside – water falling and turning the turbines.”
The owners, Karel and Radomír Plhák, participated in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II, when they sheltered escaped prisoners of war. After World War II, however, the power plant was nationalized and in 1951 they were convicted and imprisoned in a fabricated trial. In 1989, the factory was acquired by new owners. In 2000, the power plant was very successfully and with great care modernized and is still in operation today as a small hydroelectric power plant with a Francis turbine with an output of approximately 280 kW, producing around one million kWh of electricity annually. For its technical, historical and architectural values, the power plant was declared a national cultural monument in 2008.
Lucie Valdhansová