Parkhotel, Prague, Czech Republic

When it opened in 1967 after the politically and economically strained 1950s, Prague’s Parkhotel quickly became a symbol of the city’s newfound freedom. An iconic building of its time, the glory days saw the property appear in a string of popular Czech films, host both local and international sporting elite and even had global companies such as Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation set up their regional offices in the suites. Now, after a couple of decades of decline - and a series of substandard refurbishments - the hotel has been given a new lease of life by property development firm Daramis Group. Bringing on board Zdeněk Edel, one of the building’s original architects, the company carried out extensive research, building on the hotel’s rich history and cultural legacy to restore the public spaces to their original glory. Of the most significant is the lobby, which with the help of Israeli architect Gade Halperin, has been reinstated to its mordernist beauty with reproduced furnishings and lighting fixtures created from the hotel’s original plans and photographs. Contemporary furniture from Vitra and B&B Italaia meanwhile, transports the property into the 21st century. ‘We do not want to run one of the many hotels that are in Prague. We want to be something unique and authentic,’ says the property director Monika Hilm. ‘Architecture of our hotel offers that option. That is why we turned to it.’