15. Oberleithner’s Palace III

15. Oberleithner’s Palace III

Starobranská 20

In 1842, the Oberleithner family wanted a beautiful Classicist palace with a loggia motif and ancient Greek Doric columns on every floor of the street façade. The design was created by Ignác Richter. The palace had an ornamental garden, which extended along the town walls where the moat used to be to the street now known as Radniční. The only remnant of the garden now is the impressive Classicist gazebo.

One of the family’s interesting figures was Constantin Zephyrescu, the husband of Paulina, who was a sister of Eduard and Karl Oberleithner. He was from Romania and was one of the partners in the textile company and the director of the Sobotín steelworks. He became known as a generous donor and humanist. In 1857, he bought a one-storey building on the edge of today’s Smetana Gardens, only to donate it to the town so it could serve as a hospital. There were four rooms with a total of 18 beds. Its operation was paid for by the town, but the patients had to pay a fee of 12 pennies per day. The hospital staff consisted of a doctor, a physician and a nurse.

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