The repair of the town hall tower in Jablonec nad Nisou will be extended until October

Jablonec nad Nisou - The repair of the town hall tower in Jablonec nad Nisou will be extended until October. The reason is the damaged ceramic masonry that needs to be replaced and reinforced. Work will also continue on the repair of the façade on the southern and eastern sides of the town hall, and next year the last - northern side should also return to its original form. This year, the city will pay nearly 14 million crowns for the reconstruction, said Markéta Hozová, spokesperson for the magistrate, to ČTK.

Work on the restoration of the façade began last year on the western side and the tower. While one side of the building is completed, the tower had to be winterized, and the work only resumed in May. "Last year, we were delayed by complications in the load-bearing reinforced concrete structure and in the tower's masonry. These were revealed by tests we had conducted as a precaution,” explained the reasons for the delay, Deputy Mayor Lukáš Pleticha. The assessments confirmed that the skeleton is in order. "The damage to the tower was exacerbated by adverse weather that degraded the ceramic masonry,” he added.

Based on the analysis of the concrete structures, experts recommended replacing the damaged ceramic masonry and anchoring it with a metal mesh to the load-bearing skeleton. "The treated structure will be covered with core plaster and a final colored břízolit plaster will be applied according to the original design,” described the process of work, Petr Mikulášek from the city's investment construction department. The repair of the structural defects in the tower will cost the city 3.7 million crowns.

Work on the façade will begin in June, continuing on the southern side to the square and the eastern side to Kamenná street. "First, it will again be necessary to remove the current unsuitable surface finishes, including non-cohesive core plasters, which will be replaced with new ones. They will be unified by a new colored layer of břízolit scraped plaster in the shade of dark ochre to terracotta,” stated Pleticha. According to him, it is also necessary to treat the stone pilasters and railing elements, and restoration is awaited for the waterproofing on the balcony on the first floor. The town hall will spend eight million crowns on the work.

The Jablonec town hall is an important building of Czechoslovak interwar architecture. It was built between 1931 and 1933 according to the design of architect Karel Winter. The heritage-protected building is being gradually restored by the city, which has invested over 35 million crowns in it over the last six years. The city is gradually restoring the windows and is also working on the restoration of the interiors of the town hall. Among other things, the vestibule has lanterns this year, which were previously absent because there was no money left for their production during the construction of the building. According to Winter's original plans, they were produced by the specialized company Houska & Douda.