The Trade Union House in Žilina was built according to the project of architect Ferdinand Čapka from 1957. Although the aesthetics of socialist realism was gradually being rejected at that time, the architect still tended towards the massive shapes of 1940s modernism more than the lightness of the international style.
Žilina's Trade Union House represents a return to the traditional urbanism of the city block and street. The building defined the western side of the then under-construction Lenin Square, which was followed by a new urban street with a row of residential buildings. The residential buildings of the so-called Žilina Boulevard (today Anton Bernolák Street) are also the work of Ferdinand Čapek, although less abstract in their expression than the Trade Union House.
The functional programme of the Trade Union House followed the concepts of the mid-fifties. It combined a large trade union club with a 500-seat theatre, a children's section with a 200-seat theatre, and an organisational house that included an exhibition hall, lecture halls, and a library in addition to administrative space.
The architect concealed the complex layout with a unified façade of the connecting wing. Each operational section had its own entrance facing the square. The front of the Trade Union House is dominated by an asymmetrical, travertine-clad bay projecting into the corner. The slender pillars that accent the entrance to the great hall carry a representative balcony. In the 1980s, part of the interiors were adapted in a postmodern-deconstructivist spirit according to the design of architects D. Voštenák and I. Vašek.
Bibliography:
Návrhy z omezené soutěže na budovu Krajské odborové rady v Žilině. Architektura ČSR 1951, roč. 10, č. 1-12, s. 82 - 85.
ČAPKA, Ferdinand: Medzisväzový klub ROH v Žilině, Projekt 1957, č. 9, s. 6.
KUSÝ, Martin: Architektúra na Slovensku 1945 – 1975. Bratislava, Pallas 1976. s. 207.
DULLA, Matúš: Nové interiéry Domu odborov v Žiline. Projekt 1990, roč. 32, č. 2, s. 20 - 22.
MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta - SZALAY, Peter. Domy kultúry na Slovensku: Vzostup a pád jedného typologického druhu. In Osvěta, kultura, zábava: kultúrní domy v Československu,Michaela Janečková, Irena Lehkoživoá (eds.) 2024, VI PER: Praha, s. 681-767.
