JelenovacA park-forest, 19th-century villas and the hospital on Vinogradska

Jelenovac at a glance

• To the main square by ZET25 min
• To the centre as the crow flies2.5 km
• Residents (2021)³3,088
• Park-forest⁷about 49 ha

Where Jelenovac is

Jelenovac is a local committee area (mjesni odbor) in the city district of Črnomerec and part of the settlement of Zagreb, not a separate settlement.^1,2,3 A kvart, or neighbourhood, is an everyday name with no official boundary, so this guide describes Jelenovac through that committee area. It covers 156.72 hectares, 6.5% of Črnomerec, and its office is at Ilica 181.^3,5,1

According to the committee's rules, the boundary starts at the junction of Ilica and Vinogradska cesta and takes in the odd-numbered side of Vinogradska up to Podolje. From there it follows Podolje and Vrtlarska, taking in the streets Vinogradi and Vinogradi odvojak, to the Jelenovac stream, then runs north to the junction of Vrhovec, Vidovčica and Jelenovački vrh. The Gornji grad – Medveščak district lies to the east, and Ilica to the south.^1,2

The Sestre milosrdnice hospital, at Vinogradska cesta 29, sits at the low southern end of the area, near Ilica. The villas, the street called Jelenovac and the park-forest are further north, uphill.^1,2,41 The forest climbs from 135 to almost 238 metres above sea level, between the Vrhovec park-forest to the west and the Pantovčak park-forest to the east.^6,10

For and against: life in Jelenovac

What life is like in Jelenovac

According to a 1991 study by the sociologist Aleksandar Štulhofer, around 1990 Jelenovac was a hillside neighbourhood below Sljeme, built mostly in rows along the roads. Most homes were private houses of up to two storeys, and the northern part was green, above all thanks to the park-forest.²⁵ The narrow Jelenovac road then doubled as a walk, with trees from the forest edge on both sides and a row of cherry trees left from the old orchards.²⁵

A 1905 city regulation required open or semi-open building with 5-metre front gardens on Kosirnikova and Jelenovac street.²² Jelenovac street also has two 19th-century houses: the Andrijević summer residence at no. 44, a protected cultural property, and the villa at no. 45 built by the builder Janko Jambrišak.^15,14,13

The southern end, by Ilica, holds the Sestre milosrdnice hospital campus of about thirty buildings.⁴¹

The committee area had 3,088 residents at the 2021 census and 2,838 in 2011.^3,4 At the 2011 census 45.2% of residents aged 15 and over had higher education, the highest share among Črnomerec's eight committee areas.⁵ The writer Kristijan Vujičić reckons the forest is about ten minutes' walk from Ilica.^44,8

Where the name Jelenovac comes from

The origin of the name isn't documented, and the explanations that exist are guesses.^8,9,10 A City document on protecting game reads it as a trace of the deer (jelen) that once lived around Zagreb, and lists it with Vučji jarak, Medvednica and Medveščak.¹⁰ The local-history site ZGportal says the forest was "allegedly" named after Jelen, son of Uroš, then a judge in the town on Grič.⁸

The older, Kajkavian form of the name was Jelenovec. The linguist Ivan Pelz found the form Jelenovac on the city's maps for the first time in 1889, side by side with Jelenovec. The -ec ending turns up again on the 1934/35 and 1947 maps, and only after that did Jelenovac settle for good.¹²

A short history of Jelenovac

In the 17th century Jelenovac was home to the town's serfs.^11,8 The hamlet had just five houses in 1801 and four in 1878.^11,9 The Andrijević summer residence was built in the mid-19th century and extended in 1914.^14,15 The builder Janko Jambrišak put up the villa at no. 45 in the manner of a romanticised peasant house, with richly carved wooden balconiesBalcony and terrace (balkon, terasa)A balcony projects from the building's façade; a terrace is a level surface on or next to the building, covered or open. Both count only in part in floor-area figures.Source: Pravilnik o načinu obračuna površine i obujma u projektima zgrada (NN 90/10), čl. 4.–5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary and gables. The Croatian Biographical Lexicon dates it to 1865; the blog Nepoznati Zagreb, citing a book by Lelja Dobronić, to 1868.^13,9

The Sisters of Mercy's hospital dates back to 1846, and it came to Vinogradska through a land swap. The old hospital building on Ilica and a city trade school were exchanged for the government villa Socias with 12 jutara (an old Austrian land unit) of land.^19,41,16 The architect Kuno Waidmann designed and built the hospital on the pavilion system, with nine patient pavilions.^16,17 The Sisters of Mercy opened it in 1894. The hospital gives 15 July as the date, and the occupancy permit was issued in August.^18,16 Two years later the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was built on its grounds.²¹

Milan Lenuci signed the plans to regulate Vinogradska cesta (1907), the Vrhovac – Jelenovac road (1911) and a link road from Vinogradska to Hercegovačka (1912).^23,24 According to a 2011 paper in the journal Prostor, a villa settlement was also planned on the former Socias estate, where the hospital stands today, but Josipovac remained the only settlement of summer villas ever built in Zagreb.²³

After nationalisation the hospital bore the name of Dr Mladen Stojanović from 1948 to 1992.^19,20 Under socialism the local community that is now Jelenovac had the same name.^25,26 According to Štulhofer, the 1971 master plan (GUP) banned building on Jelenovac. In September 1984 the Črnomerec municipality decided to draw up a detailed plan for housing, and the new master plan of 1986 zoned Jelenovac for homes.²⁵

From January to March 1988 residents protested against an estate of 80 to 90 small buildings with four to six flats each, above and beside the forest. It was to go up on Agrokombinat's former experimental vineyard and orchard, which had turned to scrub after the firm failed. The "Jelenovac case" was widely reported at the time.²⁵ The plan was adopted all the same, and a court ruled for the municipality. A 2019 paper says work on the project then continued, but neither it nor Štulhofer's study says how much of the estate was built.^25,26

1. 17th c.Jelenovac is a settlement of the town's serfs.^11,8
2. 1801The hamlet has just five houses.^11,9
3. 1865Janko Jambrišak builds the villa at Jelenovac 45 (1868 in another source).^13,9
4. 1889The form Jelenovac appears on a city map for the first time.¹²
5. 1894The Sisters of Mercy open their hospital on Vinogradska.^18,16
6. 1896The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is built on the hospital grounds.²¹
7. 1905A city regulation sets open building with front gardens for Kosirnikova and Jelenovac.²²
8. 1911The Vrhovac – Jelenovac road is planned.²³
9. 1959The school now called Škola za medicinske sestre Vinogradska is founded.²⁷
10. 1971The city master plan bans building on Jelenovac.²⁵
11. 1988Residents protest against a planned estate of 380 to 560 flats.²⁵
12. 2008The new bus line 139 links Reljkovićeva and Jelenovac.³⁴
13. 2017A large fire destroys the SRC Jelenovac sports centre.³⁶
14. 2022The renewal of six earthquake-damaged hospital buildings is announced.⁴⁰

What to see in Jelenovac

• Park-šuma Jelenovac

  Sessile oak and common hornbeam woodland, 70 to 135 years old. Beech and black locust are common too, with some chestnut, lime and birch.^7,44,6 The City gave its area as 49.29 hectares in 2025; other sources give 48 to 54.5 hectares.^7,6,10

• The path along the Jelenovac stream

  It runs from the southern entrance on Ulica Ivana Kosirnika to the northern one at the Vidovčica–Vrhovec junction, with wooden benches, table-and-bench sets and a small exercise area with equipment made of natural materials.⁷ According to ZGportal, the stream disappears into the sewer at Kosirnikova and never resurfaces.⁸

• Andrijević summer residence

  Jelenovac 44, a protected cultural property. It was built in the mid-19th century by an unknown architect and extended in 1914.^14,15 In 2018 RTL reported that it had almost completely collapsed; its condition today is unknown.⁴⁵

• Jambrišak villa

  Jelenovac 45. The builder Janko Jambrišak built it as a romanticised peasant house with carved wooden balconies and gables.¹³ According to the blog Nepoznati Zagreb, it stands on the corner of Jelenovac and Šercerova, and nearby, at no. 46, is a villa with a small tower.⁹

• Sestre milosrdnice hospital

  Vinogradska cesta 29, a campus of about thirty buildings.⁴¹ Kuno Waidmann designed its pavilions on the so-called bogečki breg in 1893–94.^16,17 According to the hospital's own publication, its oncology department installed the first telecobalt radiotherapy unit "in our country" in 1958.²⁰

• Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

  Built in 1896 on the hospital grounds. Its parish was founded on 1 April 1942 and covers only the hospital campus; the parish office is at Andrijevićeva 10/1.²¹

Did you know?

• 1Josip Vaništa, the driving force of the Gorgona group, left his painting Black Line on Silver Ground (1964) in the snow in Jelenovac and photographed it. The black-and-white photos are in the Gorgona collection of Moderna galerija in Ljubljana.⁴²
• 2The poet Ivan Slamnig wrote a poem called "Jelenovac".^43,44
• 3According to the linguist Ivan Pelz, Trg Nikole Šubića Zrinskoga was shortened to Zrinjevac on the model of short place names such as Jelenovac and Tuškanac.¹²

Everyday life in Jelenovac

Renting in Jelenovac

Nearby neighbourhoods

• Šestinski dolNeighbourhood guide
• PantovčakNeighbourhood guide
• Sveti DuhNeighbourhood guide
• TuškanacNeighbourhood guide
• ČrnomerecNeighbourhood guide
• Upper TownNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Črnomerec and Upper Town – Medveščak
• Compare districts: Črnomerec and Podsljeme
• Compare districts: Črnomerec and Podsused – Vrapče
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Jelenovac