The authorities did not cooperate sufficiently in protecting the demolished villa in Brno

Brno – According to the findings of Public Defender of Rights Stanislav Křeček, the authorities did not cooperate sufficiently in the protection and rescue of the demolished historical villa in Brno. However, they have adopted measures imposed by the ombudsman to prevent this from happening again. The Public Defender of Rights informed about this today on his website.

The ombudsman investigated the circumstances of the demolition of the neo-Renaissance villa on Hlinky Street in Brno, which the owner had demolished in the spring of 2022. According to the ombudsman, earlier, at the time when the Ministry of Culture was discussing its registration on the list of monuments, the owner removed the stucco decoration and the roof, and demolished the historical veranda. However, the building authority of the city district did not criticize the owner for the gradual disassembly, according to the ombudsman. On the contrary, it assessed the work on the villa as maintenance and was satisfied with its notification. Moreover, according to the ombudsman, the authority did not object to the fact that the actual demolition of the villa was reported by the builder under an inappropriate provision of the law, which applies only to natural disasters or major accidents. According to the ombudsman’s findings, the authority also did not sufficiently monitor the events at the construction site. "Although the building authority had indications that the builder wanted to demolish the historically valuable house, it left the villa without any supervision for almost a year," Křeček stated.

The building authority of the Brno-Centre city district has now informed Křeček that, in accordance with the measures proposed by the ombudsman, the Ministry of Culture will always be informed of all intended interventions in buildings that are in the process of being declared as cultural monuments. At the same time, the agency's management has instructed officials on what works can be considered maintenance and only need to be reported, and what interventions require the builder’s permission.

Similarly, the building department of the magistrate informed the ombudsman that it will be diligent in overseeing the procedures of subordinate authorities. Therefore, according to Křeček, what happened in the case of the villa on Hlinky Street should not be repeated. At that time, although the magistrate criticized the building authority for inaction or incorrect assessment of maintenance work, it did not verify whether the authority corrected its mistakes.

"It is encouraging information from the Minister of Culture that he will negotiate with the Ministry for Regional Development about the rules of the so-called institute of preliminary protection of buildings. This is a special regime for historically valuable buildings that are currently undergoing the process of being declared as cultural monuments," stated the ombudsman.

According to Křeček, the responses from the authorities show that the investigation has achieved its intended goal. "From the beginning, it was clear that the demolished villa and its associated piece of history are already irretrievably lost. However, if the authorities will now cooperate better and proceed correctly based on our investigation, they can help prevent damage or the complete disappearance of other valuable buildings," Křeček concluded.