Old Town

The House at the Black Madonna is one of the most intriguing buildings in Prague for lovers of architecture.

Built from a reinforced concrete skeleton from the School of Chicago, the House at the Black Madonna is a delight and a true early engineering feat. The building, designed by Josef Gočár and finished between 1911 and 1912, proved difficult to incorporate into Prague's atmospheric Old Town as the majority of the buildings featured Baroque facades, however the plan was finally accepted and Prague was blessed with a gorgeous elegant creation. The House at the Black Madonna features Cubist angled bay windows, iconic capitals between the windows, balconies with Cubist wrought iron railings, and more. The inside of the building boasts the Grand Orient Cafe, one of the finest surviving examples of a Cubist interior. If you are a fan of Gočár, make sure to check out the intriguing Legio Bank Building, a fine example of Rondo-Cubist architecture.