Hotel and Café Metropol (Portal of Prague)

The building on Národní třída has been open for a year now. Some people will remember it as the Sportturist. What was originally an administrative building has now been transformed into a modern hotel. Somewhat unusually, it is open to passers-by at street level, where you can take a seat in the café, the restaurant or outside on the terrace. The Metropol has achieved what its name suggests – it really is a city-centre facility in the best possible sense.

Although the café and restaurant look very elegant and luxurious and the furniture in orange, brown and beige with chrome fittings, the decoration on the ceiling and walls are richly evocative of the 1970s, the casual passer-by needn’t be apprehensive. For an agreeable price you can not only get coffee and cakes, but also a daily menu which, rather than being dominated by currently fashionable dishes, offers such miracles as bacon dumplings, onion soup, fruit pancakes and other delights. And what’s more, the waiters and waitresses have smiling faces and certainly don’t give the impression that only foreign guests are welcome. In this sense the Metropol has struck the right note.

The reconstruction project was the responsibility of the Chalupa architectural studio, or rather a coalition of four architects who also drew in another nine creative talents. They succeeded in creating an eminently pleasing environment, unpretentious and yet practically perfect.

The nine storey building with its glass façade and sunny terrace on a relatively narrow plot of land has generated great response even among the specialist public. The hotel was among those nominated for the Grand Prix 2008. Along with six other buildings the hotel was nominated by the historical group “Klub za Starou Prahu” for their annual award for new buildings in a historical environment. There was a (final) nomination in the competition Stavba roku 2007 (Building of the Year). The hotel received the award of the Association of Building Entrepreneurs of the Czech Republic. The most recent nomination is by the Czech Chamber of Architects for the European award for contemporary architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award 2009, which is among the most prestigious European competitions for realised construction projects.

One final note for lovers of good cuisine: the Metropol is the home of top culinary art under the authority of one of the most acclaimed Czech chefs, Zdeněk Pohlreich.