SOS Transgas: protest against demolition

WHEN: Monday, December 4, 2017, at 5:30 PM
WHERE: Rubešova Street (by the staircase)

Minister of Culture Daniel Herman has ended the heritage protection of one of the most significant brutalist buildings in the Czech Republic. The unique Transgas complex is now at risk of demolition. Experts are sounding the alarm and calling on the public to participate in a demonstration. They believe that public pressure can still save the building from destruction.

The outgoing Minister of Culture Daniel Herman suspended the review process in mid-November and thus revoked the Transgas' temporary heritage protection. The developer, HB Reavis, owned by Slovak billionaire Ivan Chrenko, is now virtually unimpeded in demolishing the building. While the Transgas complex is neglected and technologically outdated, it is among the highest quality domestic buildings from the 60s and 70s. “It represents an unmatched urban ensemble of technological and representative buildings that combines the invention of excellent constructor Jiří Kozák with the personal styles of leading architects – the artistic stance of brutalism by Ivo Loos and Jindřich Malátka with the high-tech architecture of Jiří Eisenreich and Václav Aulický,” says Lukáš Beran, a researcher at the Institute of Theory and History of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture CTU.

The state has failed on several levels in this case. The initial positions of the municipal heritage specialists and the Prague branch of the National Heritage Institute, which allowed for the demolition, led HB Reavis to invest in a demolition and new construction project. In a later assessment of the building's heritage value by the commission of the General Director of the NPÚ and the Minister of Culture’s commission, both bodies took a clear stance in favor of the building, but it was too late for Herman's ministry. The threat of arbitration under the principles of "good faith" and "legitimate expectation" for lost investment led the office to confirm the correctness of the original decisions on heritage care.

“We have no choice but to express civic dissatisfaction and call a demonstration. We are also analyzing our legal options. We will not cease our efforts to educate the public (including developers) to appreciate and love architecture built during the communist era despite when it was created,” says Martin Benda, spokesperson for the SOS Transgas initiative.

The protest will begin at the staircase of the complex on Rubešova Street and will continue to Wenceslas Square to the site of the former Kozák House on Opletalova Street, whose controversial demolition was also permitted by the administration of Minister Herman. The protest will thus draw attention not only to the planned demolition of Transgas but also to the systemic issue of heritage care, which has long been subjected to pressures from politicians and poorly qualified officials. A segment of the professional public repeatedly gets the impression that it does not act in the interest of the state and culture but solely in the interest of developers.

The Monday manifesto will feature leading figures from the Czech cultural scene. Art historians Radomíra Sedláková, Jindřich Vybíral, Milena Bartlová, and Marie Klimešová, chairwoman of the Club for Old Prague Kateřina Bečková, sculptor Pavel Karous, curator of the National Gallery and architecture theorist Radomíra Sedláková, as well as rapper and visual artist Vladimír 518 will speak. Both of the last living authors of Transgas – architects Václav Aulický and Jan Fišer – will also speak. Support for the action has been expressed by architecture popularizer Adam Gebrian and many others. The program will also include a performance in masks.

The event is organized by the SOS Transgas initiative in cooperation with the associations Empty Houses, Architecture 489, the Association for the Aesthetics of Public Space, the Club for Old Prague, and others.

Transgas and Its Story

1866: Demolition of the walls, Prague becomes an open city.

1871–1880: Construction around Vinohradská (Nos. 325 and 365, 1871 and 1872).

1927–1932: Construction of the Radio building according to the design of architect Bohumil Sláma.

1938–1939: The present corner building No. 343 is built on the site of the 1872 house according to the plan of L. Tříska.

1939: At the request of the Ministry of Posts, house No. 365 at the gable wall of the Radio is demolished.

Before 1945: Houses No. 663 and 664 on Rubešova Street are demolished.

1964: Agreement on gas supply for Czechoslovakia from the USSR and construction of the Brotherhood gas pipeline.

February 1966: Czechoslovak gas businesses, in cooperation with the Association of Architects, announced an anonymous open competition for the conceptual design of the dispatching station with administration. The proposal by architects of Plynprojekt Ivo Loos and Jindřich Malátka was selected for further development. The original concept placed three tower buildings with a square ground plan diagonally along the planned artery – two connected towers were to be assigned to the gas dispatching and the third separate tower to the Central Bohemian Energy Enterprises.

1967: Territorial decision.

1968: Test transit of gas to Austria begins.

1969: Demolitions of houses No. 497, 498, 393, and 641 on Římská are approved.

1971: The USSR signs a contract for gas supplies to Western Europe. The national enterprise Transit Gas Pipeline Prague is established as the direct investor and simultaneously the operator of the future transit system. The building project had to be revised due to a change in use (dispatch center for the gas pipeline and headquarters for the Ministry of Fuels and Energy, trade and services), with the team supplemented by architects from the Military Project Institute Jiří Eisenreich and Václav Aulický.

1972: Building permit (Due to the proximity of the railway, there had previously been a building ban).

1974: The dispatch building is completed and put into operation (until then it was provisional in Jarov).

1978: Opening and operation of all buildings.

1982: Improvement of thermal insulation properties through internal insulation.

1991: Buildings of the Ministry of Fuels and Energy assigned to the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia.

1991–1992: Under the leadership of architect Eisenreich, a Mercedes-Benz car dealership is established under the central dispatch center.

1993: The City Heritage Zone Vinohrady, Žižkov, Vršovice is declared.

2001: Privatization, the building passes to the residual state enterprise ČPP Transgas and ČEZ.

2007: The complex is listed in the register of architecturally valuable buildings and complexes in the Territorial-Analytical Foundations of the Capital City of Prague, in category A (Radomíra Sedláková).

April 29, 2011: The ČEZ Group offers the buildings for sale.

June 25, 2014: HB Reavis acquires the buildings.

August 3, 2015: CTK reports on the intended demolition.

September 15, 2015: The Club for Old Prague submits a proposal for declaration as a cultural monument.

October 26, 2015: The territorial expert working office of the National Heritage Institute in the Capital City of Prague allows for the demolition of the complex in their statement.

October 30, 2015: The Heritage Department of the Capital City of Prague positively assessed the demolition of the building.

November 26, 2015: The territorial expert working office of the National Heritage Institute in the Capital City of Prague did not recommend the declaration.

February 5, 2016: The committee for evaluating proposals for the declaration of real estate as cultural monuments recommends a declaration.

August 15, 2016: The commission of the General Director of the National Heritage Institute for the protection of the heritage fund created in the second half of the 20th century recommends a declaration.

October 3, 2016: The VZP insurance branch moves out of the buildings.

November 30, 2016: The Ministry of Culture decides not to declare, consequently leading to the formation of the SOS Transgas initiative.

February 5, 2017: The Club for Old Prague submits a request for a review of the decision.

February 15, 2017: The NPÚ submits a request for a review of the decision.

May 4, 2017: The Ministry of Culture initiated the review process.

November 15, 2017: The Ministry of Culture halts the review process.