PantovčakFrom a Jesuit estate to the President's Office

Pantovčak at a glance

• To the main square by ZET22 min
• To the centre as the crow flies1.8 km
• Residents, MO (2021)⁴²4,118
• Area, MO⁴²191.57 ha

Where Pantovčak is

Pantovčak is a Zagreb street and part of town.⁴ The street starts at Britanski trg and climbs north to where it meets Gornje Prekrižje.⁴⁴ Officially it belongs to the city district of Gornji grad – Medveščak, but there is no local committee (mjesni odbor) called Pantovčak. Every numbered house on the street, odd 3 to 281 and even 2 to 280, is in the "Stjepan Radić" committee, one of the district's 13, while an unnumbered stretch of the road belongs to the Kraljevec committee.^41,43,44 Neighbourhoods have no official boundaries, so this guide describes Pantovčak through the "Stjepan Radić" committee, which covers part of the settlement of Zagreb.⁴⁴

The committee also takes in the streets west of Pantovčak, among them Hercegovačka, Bosanska, Istarska and Jadranska, plus Donje Prekrižje and the even side of Ilica from 90 to 160. It borders the Črnomerec district to the west and the Podsljeme district to the north.^41,44 Britanski trg, Goljak and lower Zelengaj belong to the neighbouring "Ivan Kukuljević – Sakcinski" committee.^41,44

For and against: life in Pantovčak

What life is like in Pantovčak

According to the City's 2015 landscape character study, the typical housing of this northern residential landscape is detached or semi-detached houses in large gardens, and the study calls these hillside quarters an expression of the city's highest residential quality.⁵ A 1907 regulation plan for Pantovčak and the 1909 building code had houses built in terracesBalcony 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 nearer town and semi-detached or detached further up the street. Between the two world wars the hill between Pantovčak and Vinogradska ulica filled with new residential buildings, without an overall plan.⁵

The 2025 general urban plan counts Pantovčak – Tuškanac and Pantovčak – Prekrižje as part of the especially valuable central sub-Sljeme area, to be protected. On the northern part of the street a new building may have at most 500 m² of gross floor area and three storeys, the third an attic, while near the start of Pantovčak the plan allows somewhat denser building that fits the existing street.¹⁹

There are flats as well as villas. Stjepan Planić's Zanatlijski dom (the Artisans' Home), at the corner of Britanski trg and Pantovčak, was designed in 1930 as a rental block with 15 two- and three-room flats in the street wing, nine two-room flatsTwo-room flat (dvosoban stan)A flat with two rooms, usually a living room and one bedroom. In Croatian listings the room count isn't the number of bedrooms.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary in the courtyard wing, two basement flats and two attic studiosStudio flat (garsonijera)A flat where living, sleeping and cooking share one room, with a separate bathroom. Often spelled garsonjera.Source: Pravilnik minimalnih tehničkih uvjeta za projektiranje i gradnju stanova iz POS-a (NN 106/04, 25/06, 121/11), čl. 2., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary.^9,10 At the 2011 census the "Stjepan Radić" committee area had 2,662 dwellings.⁴⁵

According to the foreign ministry's directory, in October 2026 Pantovčak had the embassies of Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro and Morocco, and the Turkish cooperation agency TİKA at number 142.⁴⁶

Where the name Pantovčak comes from

The origin of the name is uncertain. According to OŠ Pantovčak's local history, it may come from the old Kajkavian word pantlin (Latin cingulum terrae), a narrow strip of land.¹ The onomastician Petar Šimunović, on the other hand, lists Pantovčak among place names built on a personal name and expressing possession, without saying whose name.³ Neither explanation has been proven.

The Croatian language portal records Pantovčak as a Zagreb street and part of town and, figuratively, as official Croatian politics, as in "decisions from Pantovčak".⁴

A short history of Pantovčak

According to OŠ Pantovčak's chronicle, an estate called Pantovčak owned by the Jesuit College is recorded as early as 1674, and the land along the road was once vineyards. In 1801 there was a settlement of 7 houses and 42 people, and in 1878 the street is described as sparsely built.¹ From the mid-19th century the city gradually spread into its suburbs, Pantovčak among them.²

The elementary school at Pantovčak 87 opened on 5 March 1908 as a four-year school.¹ Villa Mosinger at number 112, Vladimir Šterk's first villa with undecorated façades (1930–1931), belonged to the Jewish Mosinger and Mayer families until the Second World War; after the NDH regime was set up, it was requisitioned.¹¹

During the Second World War the school building was used for military purposes, so lessons were held in private houses.¹ Vila Prekrižje, a summer residence designed by Ivan Zemljak, was also built in the early 1940s.^17,18 A new, larger school designed by Antun Ulrich was built from 1950 and opened in 1954.¹

According to a study by Patricia Počanić, land on Pantovčak was chosen for Tito's Zagreb residence in the late 1950s. Private properties, orchards and vineyards there were expropriated, and the earlier owners included the painter Vera Nikolić-Podrinska.¹³ Drago Ibler designed a first version of the villa from 1960 to 1962, but that project was halted. After an invited competition in late 1962 the villa was designed by Vjenceslav Richter and Kazimir Ostrogović and built from 1963 to 1965.^12,13,14 Vila Zagorje was Tito's residence until his death in 1980.^13,14

After Yugoslav army jets rocketed Banski dvori on 7 October 1991, the Office of the President moved into the former Vila Zagorje, where it has been since 1992.^13,14 According to Hina, in November 2019 the government cut the area managed by the President's Office from about 95 to 28 hectares.¹⁶

1. 1674An estate called Pantovčak is recorded as the Jesuit College's property.¹
2. 1801The area has a settlement of 7 houses and 42 people.¹
3. 1891The market on Britanski trg opens.⁶
4. 1900–1901Ivan Tišov builds a villa with a studio at Pantovčak 54.^25,26
5. 1908The elementary school at Pantovčak 87 opens.¹
6. 1930The first tenants move into Zanatlijski dom.^9,10
7. 1954The new school building, today's OŠ Pantovčak, opens.¹
8. 1963–1965Vila Zagorje is built to Richter and Ostrogović's design.^12,13
9. 1992The Office of the President is in the former Vila Zagorje.^13,14
10. 2011The church of St Quirinus at Pantovčak 85 is consecrated.^22,23
11. 2019The government cuts the President's Office complex from about 95 to 28 hectares.¹⁶
12. 2024–2025The landslide between Donje Prekrižje and Zelengaj is repaired.^39,40
13. 2026Bus 101 is extended to Šestine.²⁸

What to see in Pantovčak

• Predsjednički dvori (Vila Zagorje)

  At Pantovčak 241, home of the Office of the President.^12,14 The front doors of multicoloured glass prisms and the coffered ceiling belong to Richter's synthesis of the arts.^12,14 Sculptures by Vanja Radauš, Kosta Angeli Radovani and Vladimir Gašparić-Gapa were placed in the park in the 1970s and 1980s.^13,15

• Vila Prekrižje

  At Pantovčak 281, inside the President's Office complex.^16,19 The early-1940s summer residence, designed by Ivan Zemljak, draws on Croatian folk architecture and was furnished in a "folk style".^17,18 According to Jutarnji list, its roof is rye straw, last renewed in 2007 with straw from Slovenia; in July 2025 the President's Office tendered an urgent temporary repair of the roof.¹⁷

• Church of St Quirinus

  At Pantovčak 85. Of 12 competition entries, Djivo Dražić's design was accepted on 1 June 2000. Regular Mass has been said since 9 October 2004, and Cardinal Josip Bozanić consecrated the church on 11 June 2011.^22,23 Its three bells were cast in Innsbruck.²²

• Zanatlijski dom

  Stjepan Planić's rental block at the corner of Britanski trg and Pantovčak. It won one of three equal first prizes in a 1930 invited competition, and its rents supported members of the artisans' association and their families. The courtyard wing is S-shaped in plan.^9,10 The city plan lists it as a protected cultural property (Z-7551).¹⁹

• Villa Tišov

  At Pantovčak 54, from 1900–1901, designed by Aladár Baranyai; it counts among the first Secession buildings in Croatian architecture.^25,26 The façade had Secession ornament and frescoes by Tišov himself, later stripped away.²⁵

• Britanski trg market

  Locals call it Mali plac (the little market), and its official address is Arnoldova 2. The square has been Ilički trg, then Trg Ladislava Pejačevića, and since 1946 Britanski trg.^6,27,8 According to Tržnice Zagreb's 2020 page, it holds Liberplac, a second-hand book fair, on Fridays and an antiques fair at weekends.⁷

Did you know?

• 1Richter's competition entry for Tito's villa was called "Bela hiža", Kajkavian for "white house".^12,13
• 2The parish of St Quirinus has its own beer. According to Glas Koncila, "Kvirinovo pivo" was first brewed in 2019 for the parish's 20th anniversary, and in 2023 the parish priest and a parishioner brewed a pale ale.²⁴
• 3The square at the foot of Pantovčak once had a cemetery. The City Museum's 2023 guide to old Zagreb cemeteries lists Britanski trg/Pantovčak among its 15 sites, with a photo from about 1902 of a fenced Orthodox cemetery on the west side of the square.⁴⁹
• 4The Kraljevec stream once ran across Britanski trg; it was covered over in the early 1900s.^6,27

Everyday life in Pantovčak

Renting in Pantovčak

Nearby neighbourhoods

• JelenovacNeighbourhood guide
• TuškanacNeighbourhood guide
• Šestinski dolNeighbourhood guide
• Upper TownNeighbourhood guide
• MedveščakNeighbourhood guide
• Sveti DuhNeighbourhood guide

• Compare districts: Upper Town – Medveščak and Črnomerec
• Compare districts: Upper Town – Medveščak and Lower Town
• Compare districts: Upper Town – Medveščak and Maksimir
• All Zagreb neighbourhood guides

Questions about life in Pantovčak