Demolition work has begun on the repairs of the Avion hotel

Brno - Demolition work on the old hotel partitions has begun the first phase of renovations of Hotel Avion in Brno, which is part of top interwar architecture. The protected building should be renovated by the end of next year, said hotel owner Stanislav Berousek to CTK today.

Berousek has been planning the hotel renovations for several years. He wanted to secure subsidies, but today he stated that the hotel, which has been closed since February 2010, will be renovated from his own resources. He is bound by the architectural plans of Eva Jiřičná, whose project has already been approved by heritage conservationists.

However, Berousek wants some changes. For example, he does not want to create a café on the eighth floor. "We have resigned on that. There are enough dining facilities already on the third floor,” Berousek stated. The owner also does not plan underfloor heating, which he claims will save costs. He did not specify today how much the reconstruction will cost.

"It will again be a fully functional hotel with restaurants and cafés," Berousek stated. Workers are currently completing the demolition of the partitions. The Avion had relatively small rooms that did not have bathrooms. Bathrooms were shared in the hallway. "The hotel was according to standards from 1928. Only one sample floor has been preserved; the rest is being modified to meet current standards, and today’s dividing partitions are being demolished," said Pavel Wewiora from the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ). According to him, the renovation of the hotel will be logistically very complicated, partly because the hotel is in a busy center and access to the courtyard is virtually impossible.

The owner of Avion wants to maintain the same number of rooms that the hotel originally had - that is, 37. However, he wants to enlarge the original rooms and also gain additional space through an extension in the courtyard. Berousek has owned the Avion for ten years and wants to operate the hotel in collaboration with a global hotel chain, such as Hilton, once it is renovated.

According to plans by Brno architect Bohuslav Fuchs, Hotel Avion has stood since 1928. It is notable for its cramped plot of around eight meters. The hotel was built on the site of a demolished classicist house with a small inner courtyard. Fuchs had to work economically in solving the layout and space. "The author captured it in a discovery and clever manner, which ensured the building's significance was timeless," stated art historian Iloš Crhonek in his monograph on Bohuslav Fuchs.