House No. 109 (The Deer public house)
The building is located at the north-west corner of Horní náměstí (Upper Square) and the beginning of Žitavská street. It is a typical example of the late baroque style town house from the late 18th and early 19th century. Even though it has gone through many periods of reconstruction, it still holds its historical interest. During the building’s history it has been both a pub and a hotel. It is quite likely that it was originally built as a coaching inn due to its large entrance which leads into the rear part of the building.
It is built on an L-shaped groundplan and is covered with a saddle roof, part of which leading to Žitavská street is half-hipped. The building has four skylights though originally it only had three.
The facade has the window surrounds and the floors are separated by a ledge. The most interesting feature about the building is the coach entrance leading to a passage way. It has a stucco style portal topped with two pilasters. At the summit of the two pilasters are the Ionian capitals. There are two ledges on the building, both of which have carvings, one is situated above the entrance and one just below the roof.
Preceding the present building there was a wooden structure which was a public house called The Brown Deer, this building was destroyed by fire in 1625. There was a further fire in 1828, which not only damaged the pub, but also ten other properties. The building also received bomb damage in 1945.
During the reconstruction in 1828 fourteen earthenware urns were found which were believed to contain the ashes from cremations. Two of them were moved to the National Museum in Prague; unfortunately, these can no longer be found, thus casting some doubts on the theory that there was a burial ground at this spot.
Further research was carried out in 2009 and 2010 by an archaeological team, this research could find no evidence of a burial ground either.
Also several red-painted earthenware pots were found in front of the pub, all dated from 15th and 16th century.
