Palác Luxor, Functionalist palace in New Town, Czech Republic
Palác Luxor is a concrete and glass building with eleven floors above ground and three basement levels in central Prague. The facade feels open and geometric, with large window areas that bring plenty of light inside.
Palác Luxor, known earlier as Palác Avion and Palác Letka, was built to designs by Bohumír Kozák and Nikola Dobrović between 1925 and 1927 on Václavské náměstí in Prague's New Town. Its basement later housed the Avion cinema, and since 14 August 2002 the Palác knih Luxor bookstore has operated there.
The building shows how Czech architects moved away from ornate styles toward simpler, more practical designs in the years after World War I. Its straightforward form reflects the ideas that influenced many builders in Prague at that time.
Palác Luxor stands at Václavské náměstí 820/41 in New Town, Prague 1, not in the Old Town. The site is served by the metro and tram lines running along Wenceslas Square. The bookshop and café occupy the basement and ground levels, while the upper floors are a hotel.
The cinema in the basement was called Avion and later Čas; it was not part of the original design. The Luxor bookshop opened in these underground rooms on 14 August 2002. In 1950 the address Václavské náměstí 41 housed a wine bar called 5-P.
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