Prague Zoo is looking for a company for the reconstruction of Gočár's houses

Prague - The Prague Zoo is looking for a company to reconstruct two decrepit wooden cubist houses. They were designed by the significant interwar architect Josef Gočár. Both monuments are currently dismantled. They should be rebuilt in a different location within the Prague Zoo area. This arises from a tender published on the public procurement website. Prague has been discussing their repair since the 2002 floods for quite some time, and the monument protection committee had already recommended including the necessary funds in the budget back in 2008.
    The reconstruction, which will include equipping the houses with replicas of period furnishings and landscaping in the surroundings, is expected to cost more than 31 million crowns excluding VAT. It should be completed by the end of 2010.
    The buildings are cultural monuments, and in the case of their repair, it would actually involve new buildings according to the original plans. The city council of Prague 1 wanted to move them to another location in the capital, preferably to Petřín. In the autumn of 2008, this was stated by Filip Dvořák (ODS), the current mayor of the first municipal district. However, even at that time, the zoo wanted to retain the houses within its grounds. Spokesman Vít Kahle then indicated that the zoo would like to establish a gallery in one of them reflecting the history of the zoo, and an educational center in the other.
    The houses built in the so-called national style were originally three and stood at the first Prague airport in Kbely. They served as a restaurant, technical, and administrative building. In the 1960s, they were relocated to the grounds of the Troja Zoo. In August 2002, they were inundated by a major flood. In 2006, a private individual wanted to place them on Kosárkov's embankment, but the Prague 1 council did not approve the lease of the land, as it did not want to allow the placement of a monument in a flood zone.