The District Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia building (OV KSČ)

   
The administrative building on Tolstého Street, consisting of a nine-storey tower block, a projecting two-storey wing and a walkway connecting the tower block with the other existing buildings, was built from 1969–1972 as the headquarters of the District Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Okresní výbor Komunistické strany Československa). It was designed by the architect Zdeněk Gryc from Stavoprojekt Jihlava, who was second choice for the contract. The first project for the Jihlava headquarters of the District Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was created by Gryc's colleague Jan Sedlák, but his design was rejected by the city architect. Gryc thus prepared the project documentation rather hastily in the spring of 1969. In the same year, construction began on the vacant plot between the tenement houses and the Sokol House.

The Sokol House, designed by Bohuslav Fuchs in the 1930s, was the main source of inspiration for the architect Gryc. With the structural concept for the new building, he tried to depart from the work of his Brno teacher as much as possible and give it some space. He thus placed the high nine-storey section on the eastern edge of the plot and connected it through a walkway with the low projecting wing containing a large meeting hall. Its volume was highlighted by a massive exposed skeleton structure, thanks to which the parterre remained free (it was used as a car park). The architect moved both sections away not only from the Sokol House but also from the street line, creating a small forecourt in front of the entrance to the building. This solution with a relatively small built-up area was chosen in order to preserve the school yard, located to the south of the building, to the greatest extent possible.

Inspiration drawn from Fuchs’ Sokol House is also evident in the design of the façades. The architecturally very simple high-rise building, divided by a regular grid of windows, was originally clad in red-brown ceramic tiles, resembling the brick façade of the Sokol House. Gryc transferred its exposed skeleton structure to the second section. The plain façade of the nine-storey building and the distinctive silhouette of the low wing contrast with each other and are not a mere copy of functionalist architecture. The motif of the base, appearing in the tower block and the technical section, is characteristic of the international style used at the time of the construction.

Gryc also designed the furnishings of the main rooms, such as the entrance hall, large and small meeting rooms, and the office of the chief secretary. A number of artworks were created for the building. Given its mission, the motifs are subject to communist ideology. An abstract steel sculpture by Alfred Habermann entitled The Three Sources and Three Components of Marxism is still preserved near the low wing.

The Jihlava party secretariat was inaugurated in October 1972. It was one of the first new buildings of this kind in Czechoslovakia; regional and district secretariats began to be built on a massive scale a bit later, in the mid-1970s and in the 1980s. For many of them, the combination of the headquarters of the district committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia with other party organisations within one building or complex proved successful. The Jihlava headquarters was not originally designed for other organisations, but this shortcoming was rectified very soon after its commissioning. Only eight years after the completion of the building, plans for the extension of the House of Political Education (Dům politické výchovy) began to be prepared, and Gryc's colleague from Stavoprojekt in Jihlava, Zdeněk Baueršíma, took over the job.

The House of Political Education, where, in addition to offices and classrooms, new premises for the district committee and the editorial office of the local newspaper Jiskra were built, is adjacent to the existing building from the south. It has four storeys and consists of two parts connected with a walkway. Several modifications were also made to the existing building as part of the extension, the most significant of which is the development of the open parterre under the large meeting hall, where a new entrance hall for the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the House of Political Education was created. In this way, Gryc's building lost its former lightness. The architectural appearance of the extension, for which a prefabricated skeleton was used, does not deviate from the period production in any way and complements the original open composition somewhat unfortunately.

In the mid-1990s, the nine-storey building was insulated and the ceramic tiles were replaced with concrete ones, imitating the shape and colour of the original cladding. The building is still used for administrative purposes today.

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