In the beginning of the 21st century, the conditions of this wooden building were seriously bad, and it seemed it would be lost forever. However, after nine years of demanding comprehensive restoration, Dřevěnka opened its door to the public at a ceremony on July 21, 2018. The unique wooden municipal house and the symbol of the town of Úpice was rescued.
Dřevěnka v Úpici, lokál s kamny po obnově
Dřevěnka, or house No. 92 in Úpice, is one of the oldest and largest wooden houses in Czech towns. It has also been preserved rather whole, in the authentic design from the early 17th century. The building is a national heritage site, extraordinarily interesting due to its close relationship to the folk architecture of our oldest country houses from the 16th and 17th century. Also remarkable is the simple, rustic carpentry, practically without any adornment.
For 250 years, the log house was used as a pub, until the early 1990s. Then it deteriorated for years, though owner Jindřich Kuťák repeatedly informed the authorities on its bad conditions and on damages caused by the restaurant operations. After many years of useless struggle to save Dřevěnka, he sold it to a Dutch family, but the conditions of the building were getting even worse. The turning point came in 2007 when Dřevěnka was taken over by the town of Úpice, even though many people objected to this decision as the rescue works were expected to be very expensive. The full restoration of the building was listed in the Architectural Heritage Rescue Program in 2009. The restoration was prepared as the rescue of the site that was already many centuries old, in its latest design – the testimony of the continuous development up to the 20th century.
First, between 2009 and 2012, the log structures of the outer cladding were restored, together with the ceiling beams; the ways the elements were worked in different historic periods were observed. In later years, the roof was covered in the wooden shingles. Inner and outer walls were originally covered in lime coating; however, it was only possible to restore it indoors. That’s because the outer side of the beams was given the engine oil paint in the 1970s, in accordance with the customs of the period. It was then impossible to apply lime coating on the greasy surface. The town of Úpice obtained important funding from IROP, so the demanding restoration could be successfully finished in 2017–2018.
All carpenter works were done by the company TES-78, owned by Martin Zeman from Žacléř. The representative of the investor was the grandson of the former owner Jindřich Kuťák. Dřevěnka turned into an interactive folk museum that presents various aspects of smalltown life in the late 19th and early 20th century. It also features a multifunctional hall, information center or the special exhibition focused on the restoration of the place.
Nominated for the Královéhradecký Region by the regional center of the National Heritage Institute in Josefov.
The town of Úpice, represented by Mayor Petr Hron and other mayors from the restoration period (Iljana Beránková, Jaroslav Hůlek, Radim Fryčka), as the owner and investor, was nominated for the National Heritage Institute Prize, category: Rescue of the heritage site.
