What's in a Prague street name

Ve dvoře was built named around 1900.

As mentioned yesterday (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2025/11/02/prague-4-day-217-na-mlejnku/), the Dominican Order of Saint Giles was given part of Braník in 1625, as part of Emperor Ferdinand II’s re-Catholicisation drive.

However, Braník was outside the Prague city walls, and therefore suffered quite badly during the Thirty Years’ War. By 1650, reconstruction was sorely needed – and this is roughly when the Dominicans started building a court (dvůr; ‘Ve dvore’ means ‘In the court’).

Three of its four wings survive to this day; a bell tower was added in 1761.

The Prague Brewers’ Association operated a brewery here from 1899 to 1907 (if these words sound familiar, it’s because of yesterday’s posts); it was then the site of the Eden Cinema for fifty years from 1919.

As you can see, it’s now neither being used for anything nor in great condition. There’s been recent-ish (2019) talk of turning it into a magistrate’s court, or into a Waldorf school, but neither plan has materialised.

Just think how different this could be.