City Telephone Exchange

The yellow building of the former telephone exchange was the first house built in Žižkov after the establishment of Greater Prague. It became the center for all telephone calls and also served as the headquarters of the postal office. The reliefs on the top of the entrance portals, along with other sculptural decorations, created by Ladislav Kofránek, reference these two functions. Although this building with its adorned geometric facade is now vacant, it used to be in almost continuous operation. Employees had the option to live or use the communal swimming pool within the building. The interior was dominated by a 30 meter long and 15 meter wide hall, where 82 switchboards were located. During that time, antenna wires were stretched between the two towers. The building’s history also includes the beginnings of Czechoslovak Television, as in the 1930s, it housed the television institute responsible for developing television signals. The Rondocubist exchange served as the offices for Telecom from the 1980s, and it has been vacant since 2010.