Nove Mesto - The Rough Guide to Prague - page 158

at the time as Prague's first glass curtain-wall buildings. Along with the Hotel Juliš , they
represent the perfect expression of the optimistic mood of progress and modernism that per-
meated the interwar republic. The second of the Kysela buildings was constructed in 1929 as
a Baťa store, one of a chain of functionalist shoe shops built for the Czech shoe magnate,
Tomáš Baťa, who was a great patron of avant-garde Czech architecture. Baťa fled the coun-
try in 1948, when the Communists nationalized the shoe industry, only to have several of his
old stores returned to the family after 1989. Even if you've no intention of buying a pair of
Baťas, it's worth taking the lift to the top floor for a bird's-eye view of the square.
Peterkův dům
Václavské náměstí 12 • Metro Můstek
At the turn of the twentieth century, Czech architecture was in the throes of its own version
of Art Nouveau, known as secese (the Czech word for Secession). One of the earliest practi-
tionerswasJanKotěra,apupilofthegreatarchitect oftheVienneseSecession,OttoWagner.
Kotěra's first work, undertaken at the age of 28, was the Peterkův dům , a slender, subdued
essay in the new style - though he eventually moved on to a much more brutal modernism.
Hotel Juliš
Václavské náměstí 22 • Metro Můstek
The Hotel Juliš is a supreme example of Czech functionalism. It was designed by Pavel
Janák, who had already made his name as one of the leading lights of the short-lived Czech
Cubist (and later Rondo-Cubist) movement.
South of Jindřišská
One of the Communists' most miserable attempts to continue Václavské náměstí's tradition
of grand architecture was the former Družba (Friendship) department store, now Deben-
hams, which stands like a 1970s reject on the eastern side of the square. Opposite is the
former Melantrich publishing house (now a branch of Marks & Spencer), whose first floor
was occupied for many years by the offices of the Socialist Party newspaper, Svobodné slovo
(The Free Word). For forty years, the Socialist Party was a loyal puppet of the Communist
government, but on the second night of the November 1989 demonstrations, the newspaper
handed over its well-placed balcony to the opposition speakers of Občanské fórum (Civic
Forum), and later witnessed the historic appearance of Havel and Dubček.
Grand Hotel Evropa and around
Next to the Debenhams building are probably the two most ornate buildings on Václavské
náměstí, the Art Nouveau Grand Hotel Evropa and its slim neighbour, the Hotel Meran .
The structures, designed by two of Friedrich Ohmann's disciples, Bendelmayer and Dryák,
both feature decor dating from 1903-05; the Evropa , in particular, has kept many of its ori-
ginalfittingsintact,anditscaféretainsasumptuousinterior,completewithSymbolistartand
elaborate brass fittings and light fixtures, all unchanged since the hotel first opened. At the