Hotel Central, Hybernská 10, Nové Město (New Town), Prague 1
Address:
Hotel Central
Hybernská 1001/10
Nové Město (New Town)
Prague 1
Owner:
K+K Hotel a.s.
Ve Smečkách 30
Prague 1
Description of building:
The former hotel Central was built around 1900 according to the design of B. Ohmann and his pupils A. Dryák and B. Bendelmayer by the master-builder Q. Bělský in an Art Nouveau style. In 1925 modifications were made to the ground floor for the purposes of a cinema; later in 1930 the parterre was transformed into a theatre.
Success from the viewpoint of heritage site care:
It was in the interests of government heritage site care to carry out reconstruction in a way that the elements of quality artistic-historic and artistic-craftwork equipment of the building were preserved to the maximum extent and renovation of the building was carried out for its former use as a hotel. All artistic-craftwork elements conserved from the time of the origin of the building were restored; elements, the morphology of which was precisely recorded by photographs of the time, artistic-historic research and stocktaking of authentic elements, processed by Mgr. Věra Műller, were created as authentic copies.
It is evident from the results shown by the photographs that the work was done successfully. The restoration of all elements, railings, facings, stucco decorations, tiles, paintings, ventilation gratings, stairways, facades, entrance gates and authentic windows in the building including ceiling and brass fittings, original glazing of external fanlights, former window sills made of red marble, authentic former plastic decorations (covered by secondary underside) in the preserved vault, authentic preserved ceiling structures in the area of a former cafe (covered by secondary underside) with a steel grid in a former fanlight of a street section including metallic grid, wooden console and formed wooden fillet, semi-circular gate into a hall, plastic decorations with geometric elements, a phenomenal “spider” chandelier and metallic staircase railing, preserved authentic steel structures of a hall including a former ceiling with broken sunken area with a former glazed metallic grid, covered by secondary underside from the 30s, including preserved circular Art Nouveau gratings in lunettes of the ceiling vault, unique preserved area of the main stairway with all authentic elements – that is a stone step and landings, semi-circular windows with grisaille glass panes, decorative metal railing, decorative paintings, authentic plastic decoration of stairway landings and foyers, former stucco preserved plastic vegetable decorations on the 3rd floor, were made according to restorer designs, according to which the work procedure was gradually approved by heritage site care authorities.
All work was continuously consulted upon and a heritage site inspection was carried out. The production of authentic copies of missing elements, former illumination, chandeliers, a unique missing elevator cage and former parts of the railing, ornamental paintings, the fragments of which were found under the lincrusta, with replacement of missing overhead ornaments were implemented by restorers to their former extent. Mgr. Věra Műller continuously supervised the restoration work. She is behind the artistic-historical research and stocktaking of authentic elements, and played a large role in the successful renovation of the hotel Central. The glazed “cube”, placed in the area of a former hall, was designed as an interior detachable element and is an overall successful attempt at combining Art Nouveau architecture with modern interior purposeful facilities.