Original purpose: theatre shops and electrical substation for Realistické divadlo Zdeňka Nejedlého (Zdeněk Nejedlý Realistic Theatre)

Address: Preslova 9, Praha 5

Date of construction: early 1960’s

Style: technical structure

This house was built in the early 1960’s to serve as theatre shops for Zdeněk Nejedlý Realistic Theatre. The building’s storeys are of large floor-to-ceiling height and they hosted carpenter shops and paint shops for background scenery production, as well as an electrical substation on the ground floor. Scenery transportation was taken care of by a freight lift in the vertical space of a steep staircase, a listed structure, still functional. As from September 2001 it was owned by the Švandovo Theatre which was using it through 2010 as a set pieces depot and a rehearsal stage with a floor plan of about 200 sqm (12.7 x 17.2 m) with basic facilities (toilet, kitchenette). It is a three-storey reinforced concrete skeleton with reinforced concrete beam ceilings and a cellar serving as a storage space. The first floor currently hosts an electrical substation and the second floor is home to a rehearsal stage that is two floors high (occasionally serving as a hall, too). The building has walls of fired bricks and the facade shell is covered with hard plaster with a distinct square raster of two colour varieties (yellow and red). Some of the openings are made of glass-fibre reinforced concrete.

The Preslova building was used not only by the Švandovo Theatre ensemble but also by numerous other Czech and international artists engaging in contemporary theatre, music and new media.

Quite rarely, it was also made available for performances and festivals (such as Farma 2007). As the building’s electricity was falling into disrepair, it was eventually vacated in 2010.

Author: Marcela Steinbachová

Translator: Jiří Pilucha