What's in a Prague street name

U lázní was built in 1938.

‘Lázně’ (plural) would translate as ‘spa’, ‘watering place’ or ‘health resort’ (all singular). You will most likely know this from trips to Karlovy Vary (hotel view from summer 2021, and therefore my first night away from home for about ten months, below).

Prague is not without its lázně (or former lázně) either: see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/01/prague-2-day-150-dittrichova/ for a very important moment in Czech history in 1848.

Or, a little bit nearer Charles Bridge, https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/11/prague-1-day-75-lazenska/.

Back in Lhotka, the street name is a reference to the local outdoor swimming pool. The swimming pool’s website says it operated in the 1970s and 1980s, but the fact that the street has had this name since its inception in 1938 suggests it goes back a bit longer than that.

Anyway, after the Velvet Revolution, it fell into disrepair, and, in 2005, it was announced that it was going to be replaced by housing. The locals of Novodvorská (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2026/01/11/prague-4-day-276-novodvorska/) – an area hardly lacking in postboxes and doorbells – protested.

Following a successful petition, Prague 4 bought the area back in 2014. Within a year, renovation work had begun, and the pools reopened to visitors in 2018 (there’ve been a few renovations since too).

Unsurprisingly, they don’t do the non-summer months, as evidenced by this pic from 15 February.