What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 1 March 2023.

Ke Karlovu was built a very long time ago.

Until 1857, it was Karlovská; then, it was U Karlova until 1947, when it gained its current name. All three names point to the fact that the street leads to Karlov, which you can find more out about here: https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-85-pod-karlovem/

One of the most famous buildings associated with Ke Karlovu is also one that you won’t see if you walk down there today: the Czech Children’s Hospital.

Opened in 1902, it had originally been commissioned because the capacity of the children’s hospital located nearby on the corner of Viničná and Benátská (and opened in 1888) was insufficient.

It consisted of six pavilions, and initially had a capacity of 270 beds. It was also quite badly damaged during the Prague Uprising in 1945 (this depiction obviously predates that).

However, the final death knell for the hospital was the construction of the Nusle Bridge (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/08/21/prague-2-day-86-nuselsky-most/). The hospital’s buildings were blown up in 1971, two years before the bridge was opened.

There’s a great picture on the Facebook page Ošklivá architektura (Ugly architecture), showing a point at which the bridge wasn’t completed, and the hospital wasn’t gone forever.