They were afraid that the Russians would shoot Ještěd to pieces. Then he breathed new life into the Czech building of the century.
Otakar Binar was born on June 17, 1931 in Jaroměř to Otakar Binar and Regina, née Reslerová, as their second child. His father worked as an engine driver. In 1931, the Binars moved from Liberec to Jaroměř, shortly afterwards to Kuklen near Hradec Králové. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk patted Binar Junior on the head in Lány. He decided to be an architect when he was just a child. At the end of the war, the family moved back to the north of Bohemia bellow Ještěd. Binar graduated from the State Industrial School in Liberec. He toyed with the idea of becoming a painter, finally deciding on architecture, which he studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (UMPRUM) in Prague from 1952–1958. After school, he joined Stavoprojekt in Liberec in the studio of Karel Hubáček, who became his lifelong colleague. He was a member of the world-famous architectural studio SIAL and the author of the interior of the Hotel Ještěd, which later became the Czech building of the 20th century. He spent the night from August 20 to 21 with Václav Havel and Jan Tříska in Liberec. In 2022 he lived there.