11. Schuster’s House

11. Schuster’s House

Krátká 3

The construction of the house was commissioned in 1905 by Adolf Schuster, a drugstore owner, based on a design by Johann Kittner, a builder from Mohelnice. However, the Art Nouveau façade with a relief of a peasant sower was designed by Šumperk builders Heinrich Popp and Ernst Ulrich. The relief’s theme was not selected randomly, as the crop seeds were an important part of the range of products offered in the drugstore.

The building itself is of architectural interest, and it was built on the site where the house of the Stefany family used to stand. The granddaughter of the last owner of this house before its Art Nouveau reconstruction was the poet and opera singer Ottilie Strobachová. The trained soprano performed at the Vienna Opera, and she later became a soloist in the Šumperk women’s choir and significantly contributed to the cultural development of the town. She used her concerts to collect funds for the construction of the German House of Culture, and at its ceremonial opening, she captivated the audience with her performance of Agatha’s aria from Carl Maria von Weber’s opera The Marksman.