The KSČ headquarters in the Hradec Králové region acquired cities, they are now renovating them

Hradec Králové - The former headquarters of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) in the district towns of the Hradec Králové region were mostly acquired by the towns after 1989, which found uses for them. Although these are relatively young buildings from the 1980s, many are structurally aging and will require renovations. Currently, the town of Jičín is renovating the former KSČ headquarters near the bus station at a cost of nearly 50 million crowns without VAT.

The Secretariat of the KSČ in Jičín was built in the 1980s. In 1990, the building was acquired by the General Health Insurance Company. However, the insurance company moved to a new building in 2004 and sold the property to the town in 2007 for 15.5 million crowns, which began looking for new uses for it. Last year, the city hall started the renovation of the building into a city multifunctional community center for social and advisory services.

"The building was in a state of emergency. The reconstruction should be completed by August next year and is currently on schedule," said Jičín's deputy mayor Petr Hamáček (Association for Jičín) to ČTK. The outer shell of the building is completed, and builders will now work inside. The building will house organizations focused on mental health care, Tyflocentrum, the Jičín Regional Charity, and a pedagogical-psychological counseling center, which are currently in inadequate spaces scattered throughout the town.

The city hall in Rychnov nad Kněžnou is beginning to prepare the renovation of the former district headquarters of the KSČ, which is now called the Community Center. It houses a basic art school, a municipal library, municipal police, a cinema, and a café. "The building has poor thermal insulation properties, and the windows are in bad condition. We are working on the preparation of documentation for a gradual renovation," said Mayor Jan Skořepa (Independents for Rychnov) to ČTK. He estimated the costs to be in the tens of millions of crowns. He added that so far, only a smaller part of the building with the cinema has undergone renovations, with repair costs exceeding 20 million crowns.

In Trutnov, the former communist headquarters, built in the 1980s, was moved into by the city office at the beginning of the 90s. "We are gradually starting to replace the worn-out windows. New heating, heat exchangers, and plumbing repairs have been done," said Mayor Ivan Adamec (ODS) to ČTK. The offices had to be modified for the needs of the city office. "In its original form, it wasn't very functional for work," he said. According to him, the building, locally referred to as Moby Dick or the White House, has, unlike other communist secretariats, a different architecture as well as its own spirit and style.

In Náchod, the headquarters of the district KSČ on Němcová Street initially served the then district office after 1989. In 2006, the town acquired the building from the state, which now handles some of its administrative agendas, such as the administrative department or the transport department. The Hradec Králové district communists occupied the historic Steinský Palace at Ulrich Square. After 1989, the palace became a bank, and it is now home to ČSOB.

The former headquarters of the communists for the entire then East Bohemian region in Hradec Králové, which was completed shortly before 1989, was transformed after the revolution into a shopping center, cinema, and offices. In 2001, the regional office, known as the Kremlin, moved into the building. Before that, the region spent 150 million crowns to renovate the building. When the region constructed its own headquarters in the refurbished Hradec brewery, the employment office moved into the building in 2008.