Hotel Praha
General information
LocationPrague-Dejvice
CountryCzech Republic
Coordinates50°6′10.96″N 14°22′37.63″E / 50.1030444°N 14.3771194°E / 50.1030444; 14.3771194
Opened1981
ClosedJanuary 2013
Demolished2014
Demolition in 2014

Hotel Praha was a luxury hotel located in the Dejvice neighborhood of Prague, Czech Republic. Built in 1981, the hotel was used by Communist Party of Czechoslovakia officials and their guests until 1989, when it became open to the public.[1] It was demolished in 2014 after being purchased by billionaire Petr Kellner.[2]

History

Hotel Praha was built over a six-year period between 1975 and 1981. An example of postmodern and brutalist architecture, it was designed by architects Jaroslav Paroubek, Arnošt Navrátil, Radek Černý, and Jan Sedláček.[1] The hotel featured 136 guest rooms, all of which had views of Prague Castle; as well as a swimming pool with ceramic tiles, a winter garden, a movie theater, and a bowling alley. The lobby of the hotel had a distinctive grand circular staircase.[1]

During Communist rule of Czechoslovakia, the hotel played host to senior Communist Party officials, and also served as a venue for them to welcome high-ranking foreign dignitaries, including Leonid Brezhnev, Yasser Arafat and Muammar Gaddafi.[3][4][5] After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, it was opened to the general public and classified as a five-star hotel.[6]

Tom Cruise stayed in the hotel during the filming of Mission: Impossible.[7][5] It was also used by the Czech national football team until 2007, when its players was found to have partied there with prostitutes after a victory. The team was made to pay a million Czech koruna in disciplinary fines.[8]

Demolition

In 2013, Hotel Praha was acquired by billionaire Petr Kellner, founder and majority shareholder of the PPF Group. He decided to demolish the hotel in order to build a campus of Open Gate, a private school he had founded, on the land.[2] The previous owners of the hotel had considered it unprofitable due to high costs of maintenance.[9] The decision to demolish was controversial and met with protests, as some Prague residents considered it a historical and architectural landmark worth preserving. Attempts to make the hotel a protected heritage site were unsuccessful.[9][2]

The demolition of Hotel Praha was completed in June 2014.[10] Kellner's school was never built[4] and Kellner later died in a helicopter crash in 2021.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Akkam, Alia (September 21, 2018). "Furniture Rescued from the Destroyed Hotel Praha Tells Its Complicated Story". Architectural Digest. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Communist-era Hotel Praha set for demolition". Radio Prague International. July 10, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Hotel Praha: Výjimečná stavba s pohnutou historií a tragickým koncem" [Hotel Praha: Exceptional building with a moving history and tragic end]. Vltava Radio (in Czech). May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Kučera, Jakub (September 17, 2021). "Zbořený socialistický monument: Luxusní hotel pro komunistické papaláše zdemoloval nejbohatší Čech" [Destroyed socialist monument: Luxury hotel for Communist party officials was demolished by the richest Czech]. ČtiDoma.cz (in Czech). Retrieved May 11, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Usai, Giovanni (August 5, 2013). "The end of the hotel Praha". Progetto Repubblica Ceca. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Úřad vyšel Kellnerovi vstříc, dal povolení zbourat hotel Praha" [The Office met Kellner's wishes, gave him permission to demolish Hotel Praha]. Lidovky.cz (in Czech). December 16, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. ↑ Baker, Mark (February 27, 2018). "The Weird, Wacky Wonderworld Of Communist-Era Hotels". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Jan Koller promluvil o proslulé párty s prostitutkami na pokoji číslo 433" [Jan Koller talked about the fateful party with prostitutes in room number 433]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). February 9, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  9. 1 2 Česká televize (January 22, 2014). "Zánik hotelu Praha je neodvratný, povolení k demolici platí" [The demise of Hotel Praha is irreversible, demolition has been permitted]. ČT24 (in Czech). Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  10. ↑ "VIDEO: Z hotelu Praha už nic nezbylo. Podívejte se, jak šel k zemi" [VIDEO: Nothing remains of Hotel Praha. Watch how it went to the ground]. iDNES.cz (in Czech). June 10, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Czech billionaire Petr Kellner is among five killed in Alaska crash". BBC News. March 29, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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