History of the Charles Hotel Prague
A historical name of the building on Josefska 1/42 street in Lesser Town (Mala Strana) is the ''House at the Golden Eagle" (at the corner). The building is also known under its original name "The House at the 3 Lambs".
The house was rebuilt into a hotel with a high urban quality. The building is under the sight of the memorial office, along with other historical landmarks, and is part of the Czech National Heritage.
The first written mentions about the locality where the house was built come from the 12th century when defensive ditch and rampart was replaced with Gothic buildings and roads. Remains of previous rampart are still preserved in the basement in the central part, approximately 4 meters deep.
The first mentions about the purchasing of the house are from 1408, when shoemaker Veleslav, called Stemberk, bought the house from shoemaker Vaclav Jikrnac for an unknown price.
Originally, there were two separate buildings where The Hotel Charles stands today. The corner house "At the Golden Eagle" and the house with the entrance on the Josefska street ''The house at the Three Lambs".
These two houses were joined together during the reconstruction in 1685, the house kept the name „At the Golden Eagle."
The house consists of features of three main styles:
- Late Gothic features
- Renaissance features
- Neo-baroque features
Original surface materials have been preserved in the interior such as:
- stoned staircase
- squared wooden parquets in some parts of the rooms
- painted beam ceiling
- doors
- original wall paintings in parts of the rooms
The entire building and especially named parts of it are under the protection of the memorial office and belong to the Czech National Heritage. On the other side, its historical parts restrict the range of reconstruction and increase its price.
Because of the previously mentioned facts, the building offers an instance of architecture of Prague from the middle-ages and also an atmosphere of the city of nowadays.