Hotel InterContinental was the first five-star hotel in the country

Publisher
ČTK
09.02.2021 16:15

Prague - The business card of the Prague Intercontinental Hotel, which the Ministry of Culture refused to grant heritage protection:

The InterContinental Hotel, located in Prague 1 on Paris Street, was the first international five-star hotel in the former Czechoslovakia. It was officially opened on December 7, 1974; a trial operation began in August of the same year.
The hotel was built in the brutalist architectural style between 1968 and 1974 in the Na Františku area near the Vltava River. The site for the building was partly a vacant lot from bomb damage during World War II, and partly created by demolishing several houses.
The project was worked on by architects Karel Filsak, Karel Bubeníček, and Jaroslav Švec. The main building material for the InterContinental is concrete, with glass strips of windows and ceramic cladding typical for the building's exterior.
The hotel was furnished with artworks, historical furniture, and artifacts from the 18th and 19th centuries. It is among architecturally significant new constructions in the city center. Original artworks have been preserved in many places throughout the hotel.
At the time of its opening in the 1970s, the InterContinental was one of the most luxurious hotels in the country. Since its privatization in the 1990s, it has changed owners several times and undergone a gradual reconstruction of rooms, restaurants, lobby, and wellness center. From 1992 to 1995, architect Roman Koucký participated in the hotel's renovation.
The hotel offers 372 rooms and suites with views of the Vltava and Old Town, conference rooms, the panoramic restaurant Zlatá Praha, the Primátor restaurant, the Duke’s Bar & Café with an outdoor terrace, and an extensive fitness and wellness center with a pool.
In January 2019, billionaires Oldřich Šlemr, Pavel Baudiš, and Eduard Kučera purchased the hotel through the investment company R2G from the Slovak group Best Hotel Properties. R2G subsequently announced that modifications would be made to the area around the hotel, including expanding public spaces, connecting Paris Street with the riverbank, and improving traffic conditions. The hotel is undergoing renovation.
The operation of the hotel has been entrusted to the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts chain, which is part of the Accor network. Since May 2020, the name has also changed to Golden Prague Hotel managed by Fairmont, following the name of the hotel’s restaurant. The partnership with the new operator is set for 25 years with an option for an additional ten years.
Recently, there has been discussion in the metropolis regarding the project for modifications to the area around the hotel planned by its owners. Critics of the plan, which includes a number of modifications, are opposed to the intention of building a glass structure in the piazza. Some local residents and council members oppose it. The Council of the capital city recently rejected the proposed construction. At the same time, they tasked the city's Institute of Planning and Development (IPR) to file an objection against the building in the already initiated zoning proceedings. Currently, most of the space adjacent to the hotel, named Miloš Forman Square in 2018, is occupied by ventilation and the entrance to underground garages, which should disappear after the renovation. The original project of the owners anticipated that the new building would be complemented by additional small structures housing shops, cafés, or cultural spaces. A memorial to Czechoslovak film was also to be established in the square.
Over the past 46 years, around four million guests have stayed at the hotel. Among the most notable were former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, US President George H.W. Bush, singer Michael Jackson, and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti.
Last February, the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) introduced a publication that examines the Intercontinental Hotel from an architectural and historical perspective. The publication is part of a project focused on Czech architecture of the 1960s and 1970s. "The architecture of this period was, and I believe still is, undervalued," said NPÚ director Naďa Goryczková.
Today, the Ministry of Culture announced that it has decided that the hotel will not receive heritage protection. The NPÚ's proposal was said to overlook problematic aspects of the building. The initiative to declare the hotel a cultural monument was submitted by the NPÚ several years ago, but the ministry started addressing it only at the beginning of last year according to previous statements. According to the NPÚ, the heritage values of the building include its unique design, location in the historical core of the city, and preserved exterior and interior elements.

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šakal

10.02.21 01:36

oprava č. 2

Vích

10.02.21 01:52

První pětihvězdičkový hotel v Praze to nebyl.