Koulova 1501/15: Hotel International

If the imposing Hotel International in the northern quarter of Dejvice momentarily calls to mind the buildings of downtown New York, that’s deliberate: Stalin’s personal approval of this architectural style was based on his desire to see the Eastern Bloc competing, visually and aesthetically, with capitalist America. The only difference was the red-glazed Communist star on the top (which has now been re-done in gold).

Designed in 1951 by František Jeřábekin as accommodation for visiting Soviet delegations, the tower was constructed at the same time as similar ‘Stalinist Gothic’ highrises in Moscow, Warsaw and Riga.