Větruše: Wild Dreams of European Subsidies

About how the EU's desire to beautify our cities does not take into account the (North) Czech politicians' element. About how far the indifference of our representatives to public opinion can go. About the rise of entrepreneurial baroque to unexpected heights.



The excursion chateau Větruše towers above Ústí nad Labem for about 115 years and despite a number of possible objections, it is once again a representative landmark of the city. The excursion restaurant built according to the design of Alwin Köhler at the end of the 19th century is the first of similar buildings constructed at the turn of the century in cities throughout northern Bohemia. It functioned as a place of social and cultural life until approximately the end of the 1960s, when, after frequent changes of operators, it remained abandoned and fell into disrepair. This situation did not change even after privatization in the 1990s, and was effectively culminated by the fire of the observation tower's roof on July 13, 2000. A year later, the city of Ústí managed to buy the building in a public auction and began reconstruction. Větruše was thus reopened to the public on September 23, 2004. In December 2010, a cable car was launched, connecting Větruše with OC Forum. However, this story does not end with a happy ending.

Elated by the success of the reconstruction, the city council dusted off ideas from the 1980s for a hotel annex. The first tender in 2008 was won (as the only applicant) by Dvořák together with Orea Hotels. The project for the monstrous historicizing extension was conceived by the Ústí architect Zdeněk Havlík. However, the financial crisis halted the plan, and the city decided to wait for the situation to calm down before announcing a new tender for the investor of the building. In October 2009, in a new tender with one applicant, the company Ekofin PC won. The company, which had up to that point dealt with accounting and tax consulting, had never built anything and did not operate a hotel. Until October 27, 2010, it was also owned by the current mayor of Ústí, Vít Mandík. In December 2010, the company received a European grant of 80 million CZK through the Regional Council of Northwest (the current Ústí leadership of the council is being investigated for corruption). The city leadership did not require an architectural competition for the solution to the chateau's annex and, on the contrary, along with the investor, carefully concealed the resulting form of the hotel, which only came to light on January 29, 2011, on the aktualne.cz server. Just four days later, Ústecký deník confirmed that construction had already begun.

The author is the Ústí-based Archatelier 2000, architects Jan and Jana Kallmünzer. They reportedly developed five variants, and the city leadership simply selected one. The annex is to have three floors and an attic, with 47 double rooms on nearly 800m2 of built area. The parking lot in the area is set to grow to an enormous 92 parking spaces plus 3 buses.

(On March 25, 2011, the Ministry of Finance suspended the reimbursement of subsidies through the Ústí Council of Northwest, so it is a question of whether and how the construction of the hotel will continue.)

Current variant of the hotel, Archatelier 2000

An interview with historian Martin Krska and project coordinator Miloš Šnobl, published on March 3, 2011, on the website about Ústí architecture usti-aussig.net, clearly describes the investor's opportunism and the state of today’s municipal politics.

How do you perceive the loud reactions criticizing the architectural concept of the Větruše annex as “an incredible mess and disgrace”?
We had a design prepared in about five variants and we presented it to the city council for them to choose. This architectural solution passed through the city council, and based on that, we then designed the building. In the end, they chose the modern variant, which is also the most expensive for us. So the final visual solution was prescribed by the city, and we are completely innocent in this matter.

Did the city not pressure you to announce an architectural competition for this exceptional plot? Or did you not consider approaching several architects and not just one?
No one pressured us to do that. And I think it wasn’t necessary since we developed more variants. I assume that the architects wouldn't have come up with anything different than something modern or historical and some half-variants in between. There's not exactly a lot of room for extra creativity at Větruše. The construction site is very spatially limited.

Opponents of the construction have drafted a petition asking the investor to halt the building and reconsider the architectural design. Will you heed them?
That is an absolutely unrealistic demand. Based on the approved project for the zoning permit, a building permit was granted, and based on that, a subsidy was provided from European funds. The moment we change something in the project, we will lose the subsidy. And without the subsidy, we wouldn’t even realize the construction. The budget is around 136 million, and the investor will have to provide 56 million from loans and from their own funds. And that is at the limit for the investment to even return.

The petition specifically appeals to Mayor Vít Mandík as the managing director of Ekofin, which is building the hotel. How much does he personally influence the situation?
That is absolute nonsense. When I look into the records, he became the managing director of the company three months before the elections. If he had suspected he would become the mayor, he probably wouldn’t have done it. But because it is his father's company, who lives all the way in the Šluknov area, where we had problems getting his signatures, it was more convenient for us to have him represented. Unwitting journalists then write speculations.

The city council, through its spokesperson Ivana Solničková, denies responsibility for the selection of the architectural design for the Větruše extension: “The council merely acknowledged the submitted variants D and F with its resolution no. 191/10 from April 8, 2010. It did not prefer any of the submitted variants.” (We are trying to obtain clarification on what the spokesperson means by variant F, given that the investor prepared only five variants, note from the editor.)

A list of Ústí politicians who served on the city council at the time of the decision regarding the shape of the hotel at Větruše: Jan Kubata, Jan Řeřicha, Libor Turek, Arno Fišera, Miroslav Harciník, Tomáš Nedvěd, Petr Ryšavý, Zuzana Kailová, Michal Rožec, Ivan Dostál.