Old and New Zlín: The Transformation of a City

Abstract

A charter from 1322 is the oldest known mention of Zlín, which during the Middle Ages grew to be a center of craftsmen and trade. It became the seat of a local squire who administered an extensive fiefdom. Many guilds were active in the sixteenth century, the drapers and cobblers being among the most prominent. Dominating the Zlín skyline at this time was a Renaissance chateau (reconstructed 1578-1580), a church with a newly added tower (1566), and a refurbished town hall. The trades were the main source of livelihood for centuries. Later a local works for bleaching linen operated for two years (1779-1780), and later the Bretton match factory (1850) and the Florimont shoe factory (1870) were in operation. The new railway in 1899 helped to open Zlín to the world. Building activity revived the town with the construction of the impressive Citizens Savings Bank (1892, 1896) and a municipal public school (1897). The growth of the town picked up speed when Tomáš Baťa founded his shoe factory in 1894. Between 1906 and 1910 several other shoe factories sprang up in Zlín, giving it the quality of an industrial town. Prominent architects began to design buildings for the town: L. Bauer was invited to reconstruct the chateau (1904-1905), and Prague architect Jan Kotěra designed Baťa's vila (1911-1912). In addition, Baťa built homes for his employees (1912-1916). Baťa quickly established other sectors to complement the manufacture of shoes: engineering, tanning, an electric power station, brickworks, a printing press and a retail network nationally as well as abroad. In 1918, Kotěra submitted project designs to Baťa for employee housing and a general store with cafereria, baths, post office, hotel, department store, reading room, casino, cinema, childcare facilities, schools, and a hospital. The company connected work to one's living space and lifestyle, a program, or "civic model" that became synonymous with the name Baťa. The construction of large residential zones adjacent to the factory began as early as 1918. A bold commercial gambit in 1922 resulted in Baťa's gaining many customers and achieving an unchallenged position on the Czechoslovak market. He was elected mayor of Zlín in 1923. Continuing construction of the factory complex (F. L. Gahura's "Garden Factory") and the reorganization of the production process between 1922 and 1927 brought Baťa fame. Visitors came from all over (even as far away as America and Japan) to examine his Zlín operation. The company's workforce grew - from 9,500 in 1927 to 29,500 in 1931 - as did its range of products and number of retail stores and new factories nationally and abroad. Zlín became the headquarters of a manufacturing and commercial colossus operating on all continents. Starting in 1918, the town saw spacious residential areas and new streets and squares constructed. Tomáš Baťa and F. L. Gahura built Zlín as a garden city (1926). Other architects, such a M. Lorenc and V. Karfík, also submitted project proposals. This activity continued even after Tomáš Baťa's death in 1932 when the company's management was taken over by J. A. Baťa, D. Čipera, and H. Vavrečka. Between 1921 and 1940, Zlín's population grew eightfold to 36,500 inhabitants. In 1938, the Baťa Company employed 65,000 people in Czechoslovakia and abroad. The company's growth slowed considerable during World War II and in 1945 Baťa was nationalized in Czechoslovakia.