Prague - House U Jonáků

The House U Jonáků stands on the plot of the original Lazarov garden. It was bought by the municipality at the end of the 16th century to be dismantled and sold for building space. The first buyer of the building site was the soapmaker Baltazar Globic in I602, who then proceeded to build a small house over the next eight years. The Renaissance cellars and probably part of the above-ground structures still remain from the original building.

By 1713, the house had been rebuilt, which is indicated by the name of the house, named after the owner at the time, Jan Jonák. The house was probably built along a new street line at that time, which did not include an arcade as in the previous building. The house was probably sold by the builders due to debts.

By 1723 it is described as a house 'under construction' with a stable for 12 horses, a four-room flat on the first floor and a one-room annexe. In 1726, under the owner Vojtěch Philipp, the house is described as new with six rooms on the first floor.
Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer is mentioned as the author of the reconstruction project, but the authorship is not documented.

In 1787 the house was sold again. Further alterations were made in 1847, when the house was owned by the potter Jakub Vyskočil and his wife Theresie. The left wing of the courtyard was to be raised at that time. The alterations, which were carried out by the prominent builder K. Předlák, eventually affected also the interiors of the main building.

Corner two-storey house with a slightly trapezoidal pavilion courtyard, which is enclosed by four wings. The main High Baroque façade facing Nostic Street is regularly 2+2+2 bays, with asymmetrically placed entrance gates under the 3rd bay on the right. The central two axes are marked by a shallow risalit, which is not only supported by a rusticated band but also has rusticated corners. This also appears in the actual corner of the building. The individual floors are separated by profiled cordon cornices.

In the corner is a figure of St. Florian in a rich stucco frame, placed here between 1123-26.

The courtyard façades are covered with pavilions with metal consoles; in the wall of the northern wing next to the staircase there is a niche with a sculpture of a lion. In the south wing at the first floor level, there is a wooden statue of St. John of Nepomuk from the late 18th century on the courtyard wall. On the right side of the courtyard, in a shallow niche in the wall, is a classical stucco statue of a lion from around 1800.

Almost all the vaults on the ground floor with pentagonal sections point to the time of the great High Baroque reconstruction carried out by 1726.

The house U Jonáků, now Residence Nosticova 7, has undergone a complete reconstruction. It offers a total of 21 apartments and studios for short-term living, half of which are less than 20 square metres.