Pardubice will buy part of the mills for a gallery and polytechnical workshops

Pardubice - Pardubice will purchase a part of the listed heritage site of the Automatic Mills. They will house polytechnic workshops and the Gallery of the City of Pardubice. They will pay seven million crowns for the former flour warehouse and another seven million crowns for the completed project for a new building. The decision was made today by the city council.

The gallery will occupy the ground floor of the new building, while the upper two floors will serve as polytechnic workshops. The city aims to obtain European grants. The costs are estimated at 150 million crowns.

The property is being purchased from the Smetana couple. They have owned it since 2016, having acquired the mills for about 22 million crowns. GoodMills ended the operation of the mills in 2013. At that time, Pardubice did not take the opportunity to purchase the site.

The Smetana couple will retain only part of the complex. The Pardubice Region recently approved the purchase of the several-story main building for 22.5 million crowns for its East Bohemian Gallery.

Since 2014, the mills have been classified as a national cultural monument. They were designed by architect Josef Gočár for the Winteritz brothers, Egon and Karel. They were built between 1909 and 1911, and a new silo was added in the 1920s, connected to the older section by a bridge.

In the second half of the last century, the left riverfront wing was extended by a four-story annex, and additional buildings were also constructed on the premises.