Architecture Day: Brno - Architect Maxmilian Johann Monter

A lecture on the buildings of Maxmilian Johann Monter, one of the architects who shaped Art Nouveau Brno, with architectural historian Pavla Cenková. Organized by the Brno Architectural Manual.

Monter's name is not widely known, yet his buildings fundamentally define the character of Brno's city centre - among them the iconic Margaretenhof on Kozí Street, residential blocks on Zelný trh, Radniční and Biskupská streets, and Kapucínské náměstí. His Brno work reveals a rapid transformation of stylistic forms: from late historicism and Art Nouveau to a distinctive style with pronounced modernist expression.

Maxmilian (Maxim) Johann Monter (1865-1942) was a Jewish architect and painter who worked in Žatec, Prague, Munich, around Lake Constance, and Vienna. In 1904 he became a professor at the state German industrial school in Brno and simultaneously ran an architectural and painting studio. He focused primarily on building residential houses on plots freed by the redevelopment of the city centre. By 1910 he was transferred to the state industrial school in Vienna - his time in Brno lasted only six years. During the German occupation, he and his wife were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he died on 2 October 1942 at the age of 77.