Corner Apartment Reworks a 1930s Prague Home Around River Views
Corner Apartment reworks a late-1930s apartment in Prague, Czech Republic, by Prokop Hartl for the routines of a young family. Designed in 2026, the renovation keeps the original interior’s character in view while reorganizing the plan around storage, river-facing living areas, and a more central kitchen. Oak, dark-stained timber, granite, and poured flooring give the rooms a plainspoken palette that stays close to the building’s period.
About Corner Apartment
The project is a complete renovation of an apartment in a late-1930s Prague building with exceptional views of the Vltava River. Its main aim is to adapt the layout for a young family while preserving and strengthening the original interior’s inherent qualities. A key requirement is the integration of dedicated storage for family bicycles.
The material palette stays simple and direct, with a clear reference to the building’s era. Built-in oak veneer wardrobes mark the main circulation routes. In the hallway, they sit precisely on the line between new poured polyurethane flooring and restored oak parquet. Two original doors are retained and restored, and new transoms above them draw natural light deeper into the plan. Dark-stained timber details run throughout the apartment and establish a steady visual rhythm.
A partition between two original rooms is removed to create a generous living area that fully takes in the views from the upper floor. The kitchen, once set apart in a rear section beside the former maid’s room, is moved into this central room. It now anchors the interior with a dark blue-stained island, natural granite countertops, and oversized handles that give the room a clear, assertive presence. A custom dining table made from hot-dip galvanized steel and bleached pine plywood bridges the kitchen and living areas in both use and proportion.
Exposed concrete beams converge at the apartment’s literal and symbolic pivot point: a structural corner column. What began as a difficult constraint becomes the project’s most distinct element. At this junction, where the functions of the open living area meet, mirrors and oak veneer sharpen the sense of focus and continuity.
The original rear kitchen area is repurposed as a quiet parental zone. It contains a bedroom with a generous storage wall and a walk-in shower screened by glass blocks. This shift pulls the noisier, shared functions toward the river-facing side of the apartment and gives the more private rooms a calmer position deeper within the plan.
Photography by Radek Úlehla
Visit Prokop Hartl
