The Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa is housed in a magnificent Baroque house Dům u Ježíška (House at the Jesus Child), dating from the 16th century, and it takes its name from the time of Rudolf II, whose court teemed with alchemists, seeking to turn base metal into gold.
The first written information about today's Dům u Ježíška dates from 1548. The building must have certainly looked different back then and its ground plan was much more modest. The land on which the Dům u Ježíška and other buildings stand originated from the local garden apportionment that took place towards the end of the sixteenth century under the supervision of the notable builder, Oldrich Avostalis. Based on the wishes of the Lesser Town settlement representatives, he also drafted the regulation of two streets, known today as the Břetislavova and Vlašská Streets. He also proposed the construction of eighteen new buildings here.
The building is also famous because the young František Palacký (Czech historian and politician, the most influential person of the Czech National Revival, called "Father of the Nation") lived here from 1823 to 1825 when he arrived in Prague.