The owner may demolish the functionalist villa Petřiny

Prague - The owner may demolish the functionalist villa Petřiny. The building authority of Prague 6 issued a decision on the demolition of the building on Monday. Michal Donath, the media representative of the building's owner, informed ČTK about this today. The owner plans to build an apartment building on the site of the apartment villa.

"The Building Authority has set strict conditions for the demolition so that the construction disturbance does not burden the immediate environment beyond a tolerable extent," said Jiří Šalda, the managing director of AND Villa Petřiny.

Prague 6 had already previously allowed Šalda to demolish the building. However, local residents opposed the demolition and urged politicians to save the functionalist villa. At the proposal of Prague 6 councillor Antonín Nechvátal (Greens), the Ministry of Culture declared the villa a cultural monument in February.

The ministry's appeal commission decided in June to lift the heritage protection from the villa. Minister of Culture Daniel Herman (KDU-ČSL) referred to the declaration of the building as a monument as "a random arbitrary approach of the heritage care authorities", Donath quoted him.

The owner draped the villa in a black tarp last November in protest against the authorities' actions, where one allowed the demolition and another attempted to declare the building a monument. The Petřín villa from 1939 is attributed to architect Pavel Simon according to some sources. However, the building's media representative Donath states that Václav Všetička is listed as the author and authorized builder in the building permit.