Antonín Fric Jr. – a journey from Nusle to Le Corbusier and to Seattle

Antonín Fric Jr. was until recently one of the practically unknown architects, although he made his mark on several continents. Part of the Czech work was often attributed to his father Antonín Fric Sr. (1861–1936), a significant architect and builder from Nusle, who, for example, realized the National House in Bratři Synkové Square. The foreign work of Antonín Jr. remained unknown, and is presented in our environment with the highest probability for the first time in the literature mentioned below and here on the archiweb. This architect was born on October 29, 1902, in Prague, specifically in the then still separate Nusle, and studied at the Czech Technical University from 1921 to 1927.
In 1928, he passed the second state exam, and in the same year designed the 1st Catholic House in Svatoslavova Street in Nusle. The following summer, he completed an internship in France with the famous architect Le Corbusier, and although no evidence remains, his stay is documented in correspondence stored in the Fondation Le Corbusier. In this studio, Antonín Jr. participated in the projects of Centrosojuz and Mundanea, and apparently made a good impression. In fact, in 1935 he applied again for a job, received a positive response, but this second internship at rue de Sèvres 35 likely never took place, as there are no documents for it.
After returning to the Czech lands, he mainly designed apartment buildings and villas, often heavily influenced by Le Corbusier's architectural thinking. Antonín Fric Jr., like any talented architect, did not literally copy the works of this giant, but often applied the use of the five points of modern architecture with greater or lesser consistency. From 1930 to 1932, the company Václav Podzimek and Otto Panuš built a functionalist apartment building with strip windows in Nusle on Pod Vilami Street. In 1931, a house was built on Konviktská Street in Prague's Old Town, where the Cloister Inn hotel is located today, and in the same year, the painter Ladislav Šíma built a villa with a studio in Benešov according to Fric's project. The most remarkable feature is the outdoor stairs leading to the roof, reminiscent of similar staircases at the houses in the Cité Frugès housing estate by Le Corbusier in Pessac, France. From 1932 to 1933, Bedřiška and Jarmila Petrova built a functionalist villa at Na Květnici Street in Prague – Nusle according to Fric's design.
The Frics built their own family house from 1933 to 1934 in Ládví, now part of the municipality of Kamenice. Here, too, we would find typical functionalist elements such as strip windows, a floor supported by columns, or "Pessac" stairs leading from a lower roof to a higher one. From 1936 comes the apartment building in Čiklová Street in Nusle with rounded balconies. In 1939, Antonín Fric Jr. designed a villa for Anna Ullrichová on Pod Kostelem Street in Střešovice, where he again applied the aforementioned "Pessac" outdoor staircase.
After World War II, he moved to France and subsequently to Colombia, where he worked for the company Tejeiro y Blumenthal. In the mid-1950s, he relocated to the United States and became an architect for the prominent developer Albert Balch in Seattle. During his American period, he leaned towards bungalow-type house projects, and in 1959 designed houses like "Beverly," "Mayfair," and "Influential Home" in Balchwood. The houses "Kenwood," "Antonin," and "McNamara" even received awards in 1960, and from 1961 comes the house in Cedar Grove, designated as "Blue Ribbon Home," meaning first-class.
Later, Antonín Fric Jr. moved to Spain, where he also devoted himself to painting. He died there on September 19, 1996.

Literature:
Líbal, P.: Antonínové Fricové – čeští i světoví stavitelé a architekti. Z Hříškova do Nuslí, z Nuslí do Seattle, in: Časopis Společnosti přátel starožitností 4/130, Praha 2022, s. 221-240.