The parquet machine factory in Nebrzeziny u Plas was in operation between 1834 and 1878. These were about the first machine parquet factory in the Austrian Empire (1804–1867), later in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918). In 1862, 50 workers worked here with an annual production of 229,600 pieces of parquet. (Source: Bohemia, country and nation, Statistical-historical picture, František Ladislav Rieger, January 1863).

CONSTRUCTION OF A MANOR HOUSE

In 1721, Matyáš Ondřej Kondel, an important builder not only of the Plask monastery, asked the authorities to lend land for the construction of a house. The Cistercian monastic authorities granted his request and had a one-story manor house built between 1721 and 1723, which they lent to him and the next three generations together with several fields. According to the signature, its unproven author is Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel. After the death of Kondel’s last descendant, the house remained in the possession of the Plaska Cistercian monastic lordship until its abolition in 1785.

Between 1788 and 1813, the owner was the last retired abbot of Plask, Celestin Werner, from whom the house was inherited by his niece Terezie Gütterischová and her husband Josef. They sold it in 1822 to Josefa Svobodová, the head of the forest in Plask.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PARQUET STORE

In 1834, the Prague townspeople Anton Theodor Schimann and Martin Karl Brabetz bought the house. They rebuilt the building and adjacent buildings and furnished carpentry and parquet workshops. Among the machinery was from 1835 a steam engine to drive a double saw for cutting planks, veneers and other saws. They obtained the c. k. privilege to operate a national factory for the production of parquet. But initially the quality was not very good with respect to the undried wood. In the same year, 1835, they received a gold medal from Ferdinand Dobrotivý. Three years later, the company was renamed A. Th. Schimann & Com. Brabetz sold his share to Schimann. In 1840, the factory burned down.

PARQUET FACTORY IN THE YEARS 1840 TO 1878

After the fire, it was rebuilt by Leonhard Spieler and his wife Friederika. The newly built locksmith shop, engine room and boiler room are connected to the parquetry workshop, a hall with an area of ​​approximately 540 m2 and a height of less than 5 meters. In the middle was a 23 meter high chimney. The ceilings are reeded. The hall is supported by 16 oak columns, there are 16 semicircular windows and two doors. The workshop is heated by blowing heated air from the boiler. Adjacent to it is also a room for cooking glue. There are two copper boilers and the glue is prepared over steam. Next to the other side of the workshop is a courtyard with an area of ​​almost 970 m2. Behind it is a shed with wood stocks with an area of ​​630 m2. On the shorter side of the courtyard are two drying rooms with two roughly 16-meter chimneys; they have vaulted ceilings and thatched roofs. They can fit up to 980 pieces of planks. The building also has a new roofed sawmill where two logs could be cut at the same time. Two locomotives run on the tracks. In the basement area there is a driving machine and a storehouse of sawdust, which is transported directly from the basement by cart.
Since 1852, the name L. Spieler & Sohn (L. Spieler and Son) has been used for the parquet company and its main office is in Prague at 853-1 Kolowratská Street. After the death of L. Spieler in 1858, the name L. Spieler’s Sohn is used, and from 1867 the name L. Spieler’s Sohn & Comp.

PRODUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF A PARQUET FACTORY

In 1845 and 1846, the operation employs up to 70 people. The sawmill annually processes 1,200 logs into 16,000 to 18,000 boards. It produces up to 55,000 parquet floors of various designs and patterns. Up to 200 pieces of cross parquet are produced daily in the factory. The crosses have a groove and pen fillings. Another assortment includes mosaic parquet floors. A large part of the production is exported abroad. Oak is mostly used for production.
In the workshop hall we can find a 20-horsepower steam engine, five circular saws, two board saws, one veneer saw, and several machines for the production of tongue-and-groove, planers, and a machine for the production of moldings.
At the General Austrian Trade Exhibition in Vienna in 1845, they received a bronze medal for economic contribution, and in 1850 at the Industrial Exhibition in Leipzig, they received an honorable mention.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PARQUET FACTORY

The demise of the parquetry was mainly caused by the economic crisis after the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1873 and the company’s over-indebtedness. The company significantly reduced the number of employees and production. The sale of two plots of land, which was supposed to solve the debts to the credit union and the sisters, unfortunately did not solve the situation. In February 1878, the property was sold to the owner of the farm, Antonín Kožíšek, who lived here with his wife at the beginning of the 20th century. Kožíšek did not count on the operation of the parquetry and it was not renewed even later.

MANOR HOUSE TODAY

Of the original building complex, only a two-story manor house with a partial basement has been preserved. The land, where the parquet workshop, sawmills and other operations used to stand, is separated from the house by ownership and newly built. The house, with a rectangular floor plan, is built of stone and mixed masonry and has a gable roof covered with beavers. The beam construction of the roof is a combination of original tie beams and new wooden elements. The floors in the living rooms were made of mosaic parquet. The building underwent significant reconstruction in the 1830s and 1940s, the windows were replaced in 2006, and after 2015 another reconstruction took place with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture as part of the Emergency Program.
You can find a more detailed description of the building at: https://pamatkovykatalog.cz/pansky-dum-15053860.
Unfortunately, the manor house was quite damaged by numerous modern interventions. Today it is used for family living.