Brno-Kohoutovice will reopen the Grand Prix café at the top of the panel house

grand prix

Brno - The Brno-Kohoutovice district is preparing an interior renovation of the restaurant at the top of a thirteen-story panel house on Voříškova Street for next year. For several million crowns, it plans to restore the Grand Prix observation café, which in the past served as a venue for watching races at the old Masaryk Circuit. To avoid having visitors climb 234 stairs, an elevator costing 7.5 million crowns will also be built there. This was stated today by the mayor of Kohoutovice, Jakub Hruška (KDU-ČSL).

The current elevator does not meet fire safety requirements, so the city hall is planning to replace it with a new evacuation elevator with a capacity of up to 25 people. "The residential building is completely separated from the café and has its two elevators for residents. The third one is on the other side of the building and leads to the observation café," Hruška stated. The new elevator should be completed in the first half of next year.

The landmark of the Kohoutovice housing estate was built between 1975 and 1978 according to the design of Jaroslav Černý, who is one of the authors of the housing estate. The café with a panoramic view operated there until the 90s, after which private companies rented the space for 30 years. A few years ago, the municipality repaired the space for over five million crowns to make it habitable and offer it for rent, for example, for weddings or celebrations.

According to Hruška, people use the place frequently, and the city hall also organizes events there. It can still be rented until the end of the year. Then the reconstruction will begin to prepare the building for greater public use. "We want to restore the café's original atmosphere and furnish it with the same furniture as it had in the past. We are working on this with architect Černý. The advantage is that, for example, chairs from the Ton company are still being produced. We will have other elements custom-made," the mayor added.

After the renovation, the city hall plans to offer the café for rent, with the intention of still organizing some of its events there. Also included should be an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Grand Prix. Kohoutovice is collaborating on the project with experts from the Museum of the City of Brno and the Technical Museum. They are also gathering period memories from former visitors.