The Viola Theatre is located in an yard building of an Art Nouveau building of an insurance company at the National Avenue N. 1011 from 1906-1907 by architect Osvald  Polívka. Reconstruction of an older house that originally belonged to journalist and publisher František Šimáček and then to his son-in-law  František  Topič was carried out by the firm of Matěj  Blecha. The insurance company house represents a paramount example of Polívka’s Art Nouveau style. Before the reconstruction by Polívka, Jan  Zeyer designed the construction of an exhibition hall from iron and glass in the yard, where the famous Prague exhibitions of the European Modern together with exhibitions of the Mánes Association of Artists were taking place from 1899. František  Topič sold the house to an insurance company in 1905. The hall in the yard was converted into a restaurant porch in 1908.

The Poetical Wine Bar Viola was established in the yard extension in 1963 and became an important centre of artistic recitation of poetical texts, dramaturgically directed by PhDr. Vladimír  Justl. The first performance in Poetical Wine Bar Viola took place on 22^nd  July 1963 – under the name To Whom Belongs the Jazz, with background of Jazz music, poetry was read of Ginsberg , Ferlinghetti , Vozněsenskij and others. Architect Miroslav Řepa reconstructed in the interior of the Viola Theatre in 1988.

The foyer of the theatre is entered from the yard of the Art Nouveau house. In the entrance foyer, there is a cash desk and office by the right side and toilets across the hall. A spectator enters the theatre cafe through this narrow room and from here forward to the theatre hall with no slope, furnished with a wine bar or cabaret type of the auditorium with seating by tables. There are five large  benches by the right wall of the hall, only the one by the rear wall is slightly elevated. The hall room is painted black and thus it contrasts with the adjacent white cafe. The furniture is also black with red upholstering, the dark colour of wood is repeated on doors and facing. A miniature dressing room together with a technical booth is adjoined to the left side of the stage and it is accessible from the cafe. The uniform interior of the theatre corresponds to the 1980s in style. The theatre is designed for chamber actors or concert performances.

Sources and literature:

A: Stavební archiv Mě části Praha 1

L: Pavel Vlček (ed.), Umělecké památky Prahy. Staré Město, Josefov, Praha 1996, s. 522-523.