Kompleks zgrada Brodske imovne općine u Vinkovcima, nepoznato djelo arhitekta Hermana Bolléa
Building complex of the Brod Estate Community in Vinkovci – an unknown architectural work by Herman Bollé

Summary/Abstract: The building complex of the Brod Estate Community (Broder Vermögensgemeinde, Brodska imovna općina), situated in Vinkovci town centre, consists of two buildings – the so-called uredovnica, i.e. administrative quarters of the Brod Estate Community, situated on the corner of the main town square and adjoining Zvonimirova Street (called Njemačka ulica [German Street] or Njemački sokak at the time of building), and the rentable residential-business building entirely facing Njemačka ulica. The thorough renovation and rebuilding of the complex in the beginning of the 20th century was financed by the Brod Estate Community itself, one of the ten such communities founded during 1873 and 1874 as a part of the process of demilitarisation and gradual abolition of the Military Border. The main resources of the ten estate communities were vast wooded areas of the Military Border. Since the area of former Brod regiment was covered by remnants of lush high-quality oak forests, Brod Estate Community gained signifi cant resources through trading and managing the forest goods, positioning itself among the wealthiest estate communities of the former Military Border. The then president Marijan Mihaljković considered the restoration of the old and construction of a new building a good investment. With regard to the price and size of the buildings, construction in Vinkovci is one of the largest public construction projects in Croatia at the beginning of the 20th century. The total costs are estimated at 450.000 Austro-Hungarian crowns. Having abandoned the idea of inviting tenders for the project, in December of 1906 the project was entrusted to Herman Bollé, an architect from Zagreb, one of the most important representatives of Historicism in Croatia (primarily Neo-Gothic, Neo- Renaissance and Neo-Byzantism), who had cooperated with Brod Estate Community for decades. The restoration and building extension of the administrative building and the adjoining residential-business building were performed during 1908-1909 and 1909- 1910, respectively. The construction works were done by “Axmann i Domes”, a company from Osijek, one of the most important architectural companies of Croatian Secession. Brod Estate Community building complex in Vinkovci stands out from the rest of Bollé’s work through the unusual choice of different building styles for two adjoining structures – the corner building was restored in a sort of Neo-Baroque style with elements of Neo-Renaissance, while the new building in Njemačka ulica is Neo- Gothic in style. There is no straightforward answer as to the reason of such decision,because Bollé did not mention the choice of the style in any of his writings. Possibly, the choice of different styles was inspired by the fact that the corner building was only restored, and since it was already a Baroque building dating to the end of 18th or the beginning of the 19th century, he opted for stylistically more appropriate, more Baroque- like face.

• Details
• Contents