Hotel and cultural center Golf in Semily did not receive heritage protection

Semily - The Golf Hotel and Cultural Center in Semily did not receive heritage protection, but the city hall still wants to approach the premises as if it were a monument during renovations. Mayor Lena Mlejnková (Choice for Semily) said this to ČTK today. Currently, the city is preparing modifications to the hotel in collaboration with the Liberec Region, which has not served tourists for years. Temporarily, disabled clients of the Tereza Social Care Services should be accommodated there until the transformation of their facility is completed.

The Golf Cultural Center, along with a dining hall, club rooms, and offices, was built in 1979 according to a design by Stavoprojekt Liberec. Architect Pavel Švancer, co-author of the hotel and the Ještěd transmitter in Liberec, is credited as the author. The national company Kolora was responsible for the construction of the cultural center at that time. The complex was divided into three parts, and in 1986, a hotel built in the same style was added. The entire complex has been preserved in its authentic form, which is why the city hall aimed for its designation as a cultural monument after purchasing the hotel in 2019.

"The hotel and cultural house complex is an interesting example of architecture in the brutalist style of the 70s and 80s, and it has attracted significant interest from the professional community," Mlejnková said. However, the Ministry of Culture has not even initiated proceedings to declare the building a cultural monument. The reasons cited included that the project arose from the reconstruction and extension of the original building of the company cafeteria of the national enterprise Kolora, which was a utility building, that its three parts differ, and that it was a building constructed in "Action Z" by citizens in their free time.

"For us, however, nothing changes; we want to proceed as if it were a monument, which means, for example, wooden windows, no plastics," the mayor said. According to her, the city hall has also consulted the planned modifications of the hotel for the disabled with the city architect. "It is, of course, more expensive, but we will also preserve the interior and adapt it as if it were a monument," added Mlejnková. However, the costs will be higher; initially, the city hall estimated eight million crowns with the intention of paying half and the region covering the other half, but it will ultimately be more expensive.

"The intervention is significant; it involves the replacement of windows, within fire protection, also the replacement of doors, the entrance portal, sanitary facilities, and the boiler room replacement; at this moment we are nearing ten million crowns. We are trying to do it in a way that the building can subsequently serve as accommodation, so we do not want to interfere with those two floors," the mayor said. After clients of the Tereza House move out following the completion of the facility's transformation, the hotel is expected to serve as hotel-type accommodation, according to her. "We do not want to have a dormitory there; perhaps small apartments on the other two floors," she added.