What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 4 July 2022.

U Nákladového nádraží was built in 1935 but not given a name until 1947.

Nákladové nádraží Žižkov, or Žižkov freight railway station, is the biggest functionalist industrial building in Prague and a notorious Destroyer of Neighbourhoods (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/21/prague-3-day-70-na-viktorce/ and https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/22/prague-3-day-71-k-cervenemu-dvoru/).

It also gets to have *two* tram stops named after it.

The station opened in 1936, aiming to reduce the amount of freight train services provided in Prague city centre, and to provide warehousing.

It ceased operation in 2002, with the exception of a container terminal that still functions.

Since then, it’s hosted the odd art exhibition and festival (e.g. https://english.radio.cz/15th-designblok-arrives-1930s-freight-station-8542425…), but now a residential and administrative complex – with 11,000 new apartments – is in its early stages of development.

There will be a metro station near here, too, as part of the D line.

This year’s Landscape Festival (https://landscape-festival.cz and https://instagram.com/landscapefestival/…), which opened in June and runs until October, is dealing with the renovation of this and other train stations in Prague (ČT piece from a few days ago on https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/kultura/3511927-az-za-20-let-uvidime-jestli-o-tom-nekdo-uvazoval-landscape-festival-vyhlizi-premenu…).

During the second lockdown, there was a vending machine in here which sold all kinds of fluorescent-looking and very un-European soft drinks. I will freely admit to being quite sad when it went away, though my teeth were probably relieved.

Update, December 2024: the City of Prague finally agreed to purchase the freight station for about € 55 million, aiming to turn it into a cultural centre including offices, a school, apartments and a tram line.