What's in a Prague street name

Park Antonína Engela was named in December 2023.

Antonín Engel was born in Poděbrady in 1879; his family moved to Prague shortly after, and he went to school on Malá Strana, graduating in 1897.

After that, he studied architecture and engineering at both ČVUT and its German-speaking counterpart, as well as at the Vienna Academy, where he was awarded a scholarship to Italy.

In 1909, Engel opened his own studio in the Clam-Gallas Palace (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/05/prague-1-day-169-husova/); three years later, he started working as a professor at the Prague Industrial School of Civil Engineering.

As he wasn’t able to fight in World War One for health reasons, he continued in this role throughout the period to 1922, when he became a professor at ČVUT (he would ultimately be its rector from 1939 to 1940).

During this time, Engel also joined the state regulatory commission for Greater Prague (founded in 1922, when many districts which we would now think of as being very central finally became part of the city).

Several buildings in Prague were designed by him – the park is located here because it’s next to the Podolí Waterworks, built from 1925 to 1929 and discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/07/12/prague-4-day-142-vodarenska/.

He was also responsible for the design of what is now the Ministry of Transport, as discussed on https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/11/10/prague-1-day-257-nabrezi-ludvika-svobody/.

From 1942 to 1944, he was also jointly responsible for turning the Rudolfinum, which had been the Czechoslovak Parliament until 1939, back into a concert hall (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/22/prague-1-day-211-namesti-jana-palacha/).

Engel was stripped of his professorship in 1948, and had to sell his paintings and valuables to support himself and his family.

In 1956, Engel was contracted to carry out an extension of the waterworks; this sounds like good news, financially speaking, but Engel was royally screwed over by a currency reform which happened a week after he was paid, and reduced the value of said payment by 98%.

Engel was the subject of an exhibition at the Municipal House (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/10/10/prague-1-day-182-u-obecniho-domu/) in 1956, but died two years later.

The unveiling of the park’s name took place in snowy conditions in December 2023 (https://archiv.prahatv.eu/zpravy/praha/praha-4/19292/park-u-podolske-vodarny-nese-jmeno-antonina-engela); further development of the park is planned.