Kajetán Malnati

Kajetán Malnati was born in Paskov, North Moravia, in 1871. His father, Gaetano Malnati, came from Lombardy and worked as a construction contractor in Paskov and later in Brno. Kajetán continued the family tradition and graduated from the German Technical School in Brno in 1893. However, he did not obtain a degree in engineering. Before coming to Jihlava, he worked in Šluknov for four and a half years, where his wife, Marie, gave birth to their son, Josef, and daughter Maria. However, no building has been attributed to him there so far.

The family probably moved to Jihlava in 1900. In October 1901, Malnati's second daughter, Johanna, was born there. At that time, Kajetán Malnati already held the position of city builder, which he had taken up on 1 January 1901. This job mainly entailed a lot of red tape, but Malnati was also engaged in design. One of his first works was the customs house at the train station. Then, he drew up the plans for two schools in Jihlava and a majestic English-style villa on Telečská Street for himself and his family. He also designed the wooden octagonal lookout tower that stood on Šacberk Hill until 1940, when it was destroyed by fire. Given his position as city builder, Malnati's authorship or co-authorship can also be assumed for other city commissions from the beginning of the 20th century.

Malnati's buildings are characterised by the use of historicist elements, such as motifs derived from the Transalpine Renaissance and the High Baroque. This is a rather conservative architecture style. His work is not particularly extensive, especially since he was paralysed by nervous weakness in the spring of 1913 and requested early retirement. He died of a stroke two years later at just 43.

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