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Two architects
A Croatian-Czech and a Canadian-American architect designed it together
The Dancing House was designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in cooperation with the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. It was designed in 1992 and completed four years later, in 1996.
Ginger and Fred
Gehry first called it Ginger and Fred, then dropped the name
Gehry originally called the house Ginger and Fred, after the dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. He later discarded his own idea, as he was afraid to import American Hollywood kitsch to Prague.
The site
The site held a house destroyed in 1945, and lay decrepit until 1960
The site was the location of an apartment building destroyed by the U.S. bombing of Prague in 1945. The plot and structure lay decrepit until 1960, when the area was cleared.
Havel
Václav Havel's family owned the plot next door
The neighbouring plot was co-owned by the family of Václav Havel, who spent most of his life there. In 1986 Vlado Milunić discussed an idea for the place with Havel. After the Velvet Revolution Havel hoped the site would become a cultural center, though this was not the result.
The shape
The dancing shape rests on 99 concrete panels, each a different shape
The dancing shape is supported by 99 concrete panels, each a different shape and dimension. A tower made of rock represents Fred and a tower made of glass represents Ginger. On top is a twisted metal structure nicknamed Medusa.
99concrete panels, each a different shape and dimension
Day 4, afternoon
It comes after Riegrovy sady. Then Wenceslas Square.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Dancing House, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.