The Letná Water Tower will serve children after the renovation

Prague - The water tower in Letná will continue to serve children's recreational activities even after its renovation. The Prague 7 municipal council agrees with this. The House of Children and Youth will remain in the building until the middle of the year and then, during the planned renovation, the municipal office will find alternative spaces for interest groups. This was informed by the deputy mayor Kamil Vavřinec Mareš in a press release today.
    "The contract for a future agreement, which was approved by the council, guarantees the House of Children that they will return to the tower after the renovation," said the deputy mayor. Due to the interest groups' desire to stay in the water tower, the civic initiative Vodárenská věž dětem! collected 2,520 signatures under a petition last year.
    The restoration of the monument-protected water tower for 40 million was supposed to start last autumn. However, the new leadership of Prague 7 is considering modifying the project. At the same time, they are requesting financial assistance from the city hall. It is unclear when the renovation will begin.
    According to the original plan, the municipal office wanted to renovate the entire building, including the facade, utilities, heating, sewage, and air conditioning. The repair was also meant to include the historic pump that is part of the premises.
    The neo-Renaissance water tower was completed in 1888 according to the project of architect Jindřich Fialka. The construction was carried out by the firms Karel Hübschmann and František Schlaffer. The tower was part of a water supply complex that supplied water to the upper part of Holešovice and Bubeneč. It was decommissioned from water service in 1913. Subsequently, apartments for water supply employees were built into its individual floors. Later, part of the tower was used as storage. In the 1970s, the underground four-chamber cylindrical water reservoir and pumping station were demolished. The tower has been monument-protected since 1992.