What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on X on 15 January 2024.

Helena Vodičkova, a singer, was born in 1947 in… no, sorry, my mistake.

The street was founded around the same time as the New Town (1348), and was originally known as Pasířská (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-102-mikulandska/ to find out what a ‘pasíř’ is).

The name later changed to Stará (Old) Pasířská, whereas Nová Pasířská is what we now call Palackého (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-113-palackeho/).

The street has been named after Jan Vodička since about 1450. We don’t know much about him, other than that he lived in the 15th century, was a butcher, and owned property here.

But, as you’ve probably noticed (and, as Vodičkova is a key tram thoroughfare, you may find yourself on it quite frequently), there are plenty of other factoids to keep us occupied.

On its southern tip, Vodičkova starts with the New Town’s Town Hall, discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-164-karlovo-namesti/.

Just across the road from that, there’s Divadlo Minor, a theatre with a focus on children and teenagers.

In 1992, number 15 became the first McDonald’s in Czechoslovakia. If you look at the right of the picture, you can see part of number 17, one of the Hlávka Foundation Houses discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/15/prague-1-day-111-jungmannova/ (they’re very similar-looking).

I find footage of things like openings of first-ever McDonald’s quite hypnotic, especially when these things took place in my youth, so here’s a whole 40 minutes of the stuff:

Number 22, formerly the Girls’ High School in Prague – the first school of its kind in Bohemia – is now an elementary school, and, no matter how many times I go past it on the tram, it blows my mind that a school can look this incredible.

Dům U Nováků was built between 1901 and 1904, and has one of the first shopping passages in Prague; it’s also the home of the ABC Theatre (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-104-namesti-vaclava-havla/). The haberdashery owned by Josef Novák (1855-1906), who commissioned the building, is still here.

This building actually marks the spot on which the building owned by Mr Vodička stood. It’s not as hi-tech as modern shopping centres but makes for significantly better photos.

Across the road, Myšák Gallery is much more recent – 2007 – and is named after the well-known pastry shop, founded by one František Myšák. The Museum of Fantastic Illusions opened in the Gallery in 2019.

One of the less glamorous buildings on the street – number 34 – is the headquarters of the Czech Export Bank.

But next door is the somewhat more spectacular Lucerna, initially realised by Vácslav Havel, grandfather of Václav without an S. It’s now owned by his sister-in-law, Dagmar Havlová (as opposed to his widow, also called Dagmar Havlová).

You may know its concerts, its cinema, its paternoster, and its ‘David Černý gonna David Černý’ statue.

Just across, at number 37, Palác Langhans was bought in 1882 by Jan Nepomuk Langhans, founder of the eponymous photo company. Which explains why I’ve been here to get passport photos before.

Number 41 is Kino Světozor, opened in the same-named arcade in 1918, and the ultimate ‘I never come here but should come here, like, all the time’ location.

Excellent stained-glass in the arcade too (Tesla once lived round here – more on that story soon).

Finally, the Neo-renaissance Wiehlův dům (Wiehl House) is on the corner with Wenceslas Square. More on this one when we get to Václavák in about nine days (if this site has a limit to the number of posts a thread can have, that might be the day on which I find out).

Prague, though, seriously. I’m never going complain about the number 9 not having arrived yet ever again.

Lucerna update, June 2024: Dagmar Havlová, sister-in-law of Václav Havel, sold her majority stake (but maintaining a 25% one), stating that money from the sale would be used to renovate the building.