What's in a Prague street name

Družstevní was built in 1920.

The street name is an adjective which derives from ‘družstvo’, meaning ‘association’, ‘collective’ or ‘co-op’.

For many, the word has communist connotations – a ‘zemědělské družstvo’ is what we would call a cooperative farm, although it also translates as ‘agricultural cooperative’, and, as Dairy Farmers of America and similar organisations will tell you, they don’t need to have a communist country around them to exist.

However, we’re not dealing with agriculture here – the ‘družstvo’ in question is a ‘stavební družstvo’, which we’d translate as ‘construction cooperative’ – or ‘building society’.

And, back in 1920, when Nusle hadn’t yet become part of Greater Prague, but, like all the neighbouring districts, was expanding significantly as Prague itself became a capital city, a building society was responsible for building the dwellings in this street. Hence the name.