Plečnik was one of the few notable modernists who did not entirely reject historic forms and ideas, instead paying what he believed to be a debt to history in his designs.

[9] His 1910–1913 Church of the Holy Spirit (Heilig-Geist-Kirche) is remarkable for its innovative use of poured-in-place concrete as both structure and exterior surface, and also for its abstracted classical form language.

The first president of the new Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 onwards, Tomáš Masaryk, appointed Plečnik chief architect for the 1920 renovation of Prague Castle.

He proposed the Cathedral of Freedom (also known as the Plečnik Parliament), a cylindrical two-story main building, topped by a tall conical dome and surrounded by a massive square colonnade.

Probably the most daring Plečnik's project, 120 meters high, dubbed The Slovenian Eiffel Tower, was shelved because of the instability at the breakup between Yugoslavia and Cominform in 1948.

Other projects he completed at that time included the renovation of the Prešeren Theater, plus the Plečnik Arcades, stairway and fountain, all in Kranj, the reconstruction of churches, the design of the Pavilion on Brionian Islands (Tito's summer state residence), and numerous National Liberation War monuments (in Ljubljana-Trnovo, Vipava, Radeče, Črna na Koroškem, Dolenja vas, Sevnica, Laško, Split, Kraljevo).

[3] Since then, Plečnik's legacy has been commemorated in various ways, most notably in the 1990s on the Slovenian 500 tolar banknote, with the National and University Library of Slovenia depicted on the reverse.

During August 2008, a maquette of the Parliament was featured at the Project Plečnik exhibition on the architect's life, held at the Council of the European Union building in Brussels, Belgium on the occasion of the Slovenian EU Presidency.

[16] In addition, on 23 January 2012, to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Plečnik's birth, a picture of the Triple Bridge was featured as the official Google logo (Doodle) adaptation in Slovenia.

[18] As of 2024, the bibliography of works by Jože Plečnik and about him in COBISS, the Slovenian Co-operative Online Bibliographic System included 235 entries.