Barrandov Terraces

Look at this white building clinging to the rock above the Vltava River. In 1929, brothers Václav and Miloš Havel wanted to build something spectacular here. Václav had visited the Cliff House restaurant in San Francisco, perched on a cliff above the Pacific. He wanted the same for this city. Architect Max Urban designed the entire complex in functionalist style with nautical motifs: cascading terraces, rounded corners, sliding windows. The construction took just six months. When it opened on October 4, 1929, 50,000 people showed up. The complex could accommodate 3,000 guests. There was a French restaurant with panoramic windows, a ballroom, and a 15 meter observation tower where waiters collided with guests rushing up and down the stairs. Below the terraces sat a 50 meter swimming pool, the first of its size in the republic. A staircase carved into the rock connected everything. Film stars from the nearby Barrandov Studios made this their hangout. Oldřich Nový, Vlasta Burian, even President Masaryk came here to dance and drink. Then the Nazis arrived. German officers turned the observation tower into a strategic lookout post for anti aircraft defenses. After the war, the communists nationalized it in 1948. No investment. No maintenance. The Trilobit bar closed in 1982, the restaurant in 1994.