21. Seidl’s Palace

21. Seidl’s Palace

Hanácká 2

In 1873, businessman Ignác Seidl bought up four houses and part of the city fortification wall, soon demolishing all of it. In its place, he had a Neo-Renaissance palace built, which was based on a design by Viennese architect Moritz Hinträger and implemented by Josef Bayer. As a thank you for being given such free reign by the town, Seidl had a public staircase built connecting Hanácká Street with the public garden located where the moat had been. He named the stairs “Maria’s Steps” after his wife Maria.

At the turn of the century, the Seidl family, with its industrial interests, were counted among the town’s bourgeoisie. The family’s founder, Ignác Seidl, started out as an agent. He travelled across the region with a wheelbarrow, buying up yarn to sell at a profit to factories. As a tribute to his efforts leading to the textile empire of the Seidl family business, the original wheelbarrow strap was honourably displayed in the company director’s office for many years. At that time, the family business operated the most advanced and largest mechanical spinning mill in Northern Moravia in nearby Sudkov, on the site of the original mill.