Girls' Municipal School (Dívčí měšťanská škola)

The Girls' Municipal School (Dívčí měšťanská škola) was built on Legionářů Avenue, between Lang's tenement house and the German Boys' School (Německá chlapecká škola) building, from 1907–1908. It was designed by the town builder Kajetán Malnati. His first plans date back to 1905, when he created several different sketches for the Municipal Council (the investor of the building) to choose from.

The city decided to build the school because the previous premises of the Girls' Municipal School were no longer sufficient. The architect's main task was therefore to design a building that would take into account the constantly increasing number of pupils. From the beginning of the design process, it was clear that the school would be built on a T-shaped floor plan, with the wing facing the courtyard connected perpendicularly to the main front building facing the street. Both parts were designed as double section wings, allowing both the classrooms and the corridor to be illuminated by natural light. The architect placed the school caretaker's flat and a nursery on the ground floor, while the classrooms were located both on the ground floor and on the two floors upstairs. The capacity of the largest classrooms was up to 80 pupils. The architect placed a gymnasium at the end of the perpendicular wing.

Of the four different designs submitted, three have been preserved in the Jihlava District Archive. They vary in the design of the perpendicular wing, and especially in the location of the gymnasium. The City Council selected Option B, subject to minor modifications. While preparing the project for the girls' school, Malnati was also designing interior alterations to the neighbouring boys' school from 1888–1889. The brickwork was led by Ignaz Lang, a builder from Jihlava.

The main façade of the building, romantically inspired by the Transalpine Renaissance, is composed symmetrically. It has a central nine-axial section with a distinctive central Neo-Renaissance avant-corps gable and portal. The ground floor is decorated with a bossage, and there are decorative stucco frames around the windows and under the window sills on the upper floors. The strict symmetry is broken by the courtyard entrance on the left edge of the frontage. The courtyard wing façade is austere, but the architect designed the gym at the end of the wing in an interesting way, which can be described as Neo-Baroque thanks to its decorative gable and corner roof turret.

The school was opened in the year of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph I, who it was named after. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the original Franz Joseph I Girls' Municipal School (Dívčí měšťanská škola Františka Josefa I.) became Masaryk’s Schools (Masarykovy školy), and from 1919, it became the first Czech Boys' Primary School (Česká chlapecká obecná škola) alongside the German Girls' School (Německá dívčí škola). The first renovation of the building took place in the mid-twenties, when the roof and parts of the façade had to be repaired. More extensive building modifications were undertaken in 1929. They included interior changes and small additions to the gymnasium. From 1931, it was the Mixed Czech Primary School (Smíšená obecná škola), which was replaced by the German Girls' School yet again after the Protectorate was established. After the end of the Second World War, the building underwent further structural changes. Since 1961, the building has housed the Secondary Technical School (Střední průmyslová škola), meaning it has served as a place of education for more than 110 years.

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