The Schoenborn Palace in the Mala Strana district of Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 is the current home of the United States Embassy to the Czech Republic. The first United States Minister to Czechoslovakia was Richard Crane

Richard Crane (diplomat)

Richard Teller Crane, II, was the first United States diplomat accredited to Czechoslovakia with the title Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. He received a recess appointment from President Woodrow Wilson on April 23, 1919 and was subsequently confirmed by the United States Senate...

, a Chicago plumbing millionaire. In 1925, Crane, who acquired the Schoenborn Palace at the end of the First World War, sold the building to the United States Government for $117,000.

Rudolf von Colloredo

Rudolf Hieronymus Eusebius von Colloredo-Waldsee

Rudolf Hieronymus Eusebius von Colloredo-Waldsee, born November 2 1585 in České Budějovice, Kingdom of Bohemia , was a Bohemian nobleman and the brother of Hieronymus von Colloredo-Waldsee. A member of the Colloredo family, he distinguished himself in the Thirty Years' War, especially at the...

 built the present palace between 1643 and 1656 on the site of any earlier building that had been destroyed during the Thirty Years War. Having lost a leg at the Battle of Lutzen

Battle of Lützen (1632)

The Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Protestant alliance, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, which caused the Protestant campaign to lose direction.- Prelude to the...

, the count had the flight of steps leading to the first garden terrace built with a special incline to enable him to ride into his palace on horseback. The palace was ultmately inherited by the Schoenborn family, from whom it took its present name. Carl Johann Schoenborn sold the property to Richard Crane who ultimately transferred it to the United States Government.