Černý pivovar Building

Černý pivovar is a functionalist rental house from 1933-1934, located on Charles Square in Prague 2. The building is located on the site of the former medieval brewery and is part of the cultural monument and the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first records of the construction of this land, which belonged to the Zderazski monastery, dates back to 1377. Soon, beer was made here. In the 19th century the brewery was the property of Ferdinand Náprstka, whose family had experience with the brewery and from the operation of the brewery U Halánky. The premises were used as a venue for meetings of Czech patriots and there were meetings and collections to support national associations. It was later owned by the Pflanzer family, who operated the brewery until 1918 and the heirs until the cancellation of the operation in 1920.

Before the construction of the current building there were two houses. The first was the Baroque Vyšebrodský, belonging to the Cistercian monastery. The second was the Classicist New Town's Golden Lion Brewery, which, thanks to the dark facade, won the nickname Pflanoblov Black Brewery. The building had a deep well and large basements for cooling beer with ice. In 1920 an Art Nouveau building of the Tribune printer, designed by architects Bohumir Kozák and Karl Roštík, was built in the yard.

In the early 1930s, the Italian insurance company Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà bought both houses. The new owner forbade architect Karl Kotas to design a residential house with a restaurant in the street part and a residential house in the yard. The old buildings were demolished and in 1933-1934 a new construction was created for the employees of the insurance company, which was carried out by Jan Matoušek.

The building is a three-wing seven-storey building with a flat roof and a reinforced concrete skeleton. The last floor retreats and two symmetrical coupons are located on the level of the eighth floor. The street facade is covered with dark granite and artificial stone, while the window belts have travertine tiles. On the facade there is a metal relief with a gold lion and the inscription Černý pivovar, the author of which is František Bžoch, reminiscent of the emblem of the original Golden Lion house.

There was a restaurant and a buffet on the ground floor. Ladislav Machon and painter Alois Bílek, who designed stained windows, worked on their interior. The outside neon was created by the graphic designer Jaroslav Benda. However, these elements were not preserved in the reconstruction around 1971. The passage on the right side of the house leads to the courtyard, where the facade breaks the balconies and stairs. In front of them is a unilaterally rounded building of the original restaurant.

Currently, the building serves mainly for housing and commercial purposes. The ground floor operation was replaced by a supermarket and a drugstore around 2000. The printer in the yard was renovated in 1950. Since 2002, the building has been protected as a cultural monument.

This monument represents an important example of Prague functionalism, which was able to integrate modern architecture with historical memory of the site. Its visit offers insight into the urban development of New Town during the interwar period.