Formerly a liege town Hradčany was established in 1321 by the castle burgrave Berka from Dubé. The Emperor Rudolf II. has promoted Hradčany to a royal town on the 1st of September 1598. In 1784 the connection of four prague´s towns took place and so Hradčany was connected with the Old Town, Lesser Town and the New Town into one administration unit. In the past Hradčany used to have a very limited judicature, which did not include the aristocratic palaces and houses, houses of church clairce and in addition the Strahovský Monastery had the side right in a part of Hradčany´s cadastral. Maybe that´s why the Hradčany´s Town Hall didn´t get the space on the central square, as it is in the other towns, but instead it is located in the lower part of the Loretánská street. Hradčany´s Town Hall No. 173, the four-winged renaissance building was built at the turn of the 16th and 17th century. The major repairs were done during the times of baroque. In 1913 the renaissance sgraffitos were revealed during the repairs. On the gate of the former town hall there is a narrow metal stripe representing official measure from the 18th century, czech or also prague´s cubit (0.59 m). In its lower part the Loretánská street is becoming wider and the Town Hall´s stairs are leading up to it. There are houses above the Town Hall, which are turning to the Loretánská street by their frontages. We are talking about these houses: The Dietrichsteinský (Dolinský) No. 174 and Dietrichsteinský (Dromsdorfský) No. 175. But above all it is the Kolowratský palace No. 176 and the Hrzánský palace No. 177, which serves to government of the Czech Republic for the prestige purposes. On the north it is also the Toskánský palace No. 182 turning to the street by its side facade. This palace has the corner statue of st. Michal from the sculptor Ottava Mosta from 1700. Above it is the Martinický palace No. 181, the baroque new building from the period of about 1700. Today there are barracks of the castle guard. On the west this space is enclosed by the Trautmannsdorfský palace No. 180, which its facade has the classicism appearance today. There is also a big cast-iron lamp post standing from the original public gas lighting. It is the work of the sculptor Eduard Veselý and the architect Aleš Linsbauer from 1867.
