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Orphanage

The project to build a new orphanage and asylum was developed in 1885. Architects H. Gausse and M. Hinträger designed a modern building with Italian Renaissance elements.

The Svitavy builder Johann Bier completed construction in the summer of 1886. The building costs of nearly 100,000 gulden were paid for by town patron V. O. Ottendorfer. On 28 August 1886 the institute operated by sisters from the Order of St. Vincent DePaul was ceremoniously opened with Mr. Ottendorfer in attendance. The street on which the institute stood was named after Ottendorfer and a bust of the patron by Viennese artist Josef Bayer was unveiled in front of the building. The fate of the bust is unknown after it was replaced by a relief of Julius Fučík, the work of Svitavy artist Josef Kadlec, in1956. An elementary school is housed in the building today.