The Prague radio headquarters was opened in December 1933

Prague - For 90 years, building number 12 on Vinohradská Street in Prague has been the place from where the originally Czechoslovak and now Czech Radio broadcasts to the air. The building was officially opened on December 10, 1933, providing a delayed gift for the station's tenth anniversary.

With the move, the wandering of radio technology and operational facilities from place to place came to an end. From its first location - a borrowed military tent in Kbely - the radio personnel sought shelter in one of the Kbely houses before winter, and in 1924 they moved to five rooms in the newly completed Postal Shopping Centre on Vinohradská Street. From there, at the beginning of 1925, they relocated to the adjacent Orbis building. From 1927 to 1933, the radio was located in the National House in Vinohrady, where the radio orchestra initially found refuge in its theater hall. However, this solution was also temporary.

In the search for a permanent home, the choice fell on the newly completed building above the National Museum. The six-story Functionalist building at Vinohradská 12 (then Fochova Street), designed by architect Bohuslav Sláma, was built between 1929 and 1932 originally for the Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs, and both institutions initially shared the space. The entire building transferred to the ownership of Czechoslovak Radio around 1935.

The structure was built with four wings in the shape of a slightly irregular square with sides of approximately 60 meters at the corner of Vinohradská Street and Balbínova Street. At the end of the war, part of the building was destroyed by a German bomb. Over the years, the historical building could not escape some ill-conceived structural modifications that damaged the original interiors. Nevertheless, many authentic and valuable elements remained. For instance, in the basement areas under Balbínova Street, there is a fragment of the pneumatic mail system, through which the radio staff received messages chiefly from the Czech Press Agency.

The first significant change to the building occurred from 1947 to 1949, when it was expanded with an annex in the gap on Balbínova Street. The author of the design for the extension, which stylistically links to the original building, was architect Karel Tausenau.

In 2000, after two years of construction, a new studio building was completed on Římská Street, connected to the main building. The new building has three underground and nine above-ground floors. It contains 98 offices, 36 modern studios for broadcasting and program preparation, and six radio programs can be transmitted simultaneously.

In the new century, Czech Radio also began the reconstruction of its historical headquarters, which took place in several phases. The first phase occurred in 2004 and 2005. The second, more significant in scope, was initiated in September 2007. After the reception and administrative part of the historical building of Czech Radio was opened in July 2009, the construction encountered a stalemate due to long-term unresolved issues. The reconstruction was prolonged by works not accounted for in the tender documentation, as well as disputes with the contractor. It was completed with nearly a two-year delay in April 2011.