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Warsaw Post-War Reconstruction to Present

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#1 · (Edited)
"It is one of the most wonderful urban celebrations found anywhere in the world"

Anthony M. Tung, Preservation of the World's Great Cities

"She defies the storm" (Ancient Warsaw motto)

1.
This thread will start with the herculanean efforts of the BOS (Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy - Bureau for the Reconstruction of Capital) and the newly created Pracownie Konserwacji Zabytkow (Ateliers for the Conservation of Cultural Property) in the aftermath of World War II and its later incarnations and on reconstruction efforts during the communist era to liberation and to the present.

It is a testament and homage first of all to those architects, engineers, planners and everyday Varsovians who sacrifised the better part of their lives to rebuild Poland's capital, but will also recount tremendous efforts by Polonia and people from other countries around the world who assisted in the greatest urban reconstruction effort of the 20th century of this scale.

The results may be mixed and controversial, a reflection of the ideological, cultural and political ferment that existed in Europe and especially in then Soviet occupied Central and Eastern Europe between the survivors of the pre-war regime, communists, conservators of varying opinions on how to rebuild and Corbusian modernists. Not all that the BOS did was right viewed through the prism of the present-day, many surviving masterpieces of architecture were torn down under their direction post war for ideological reasons more than technical, no one knows for sure, and rebuilt in a "purer" earlier version or a socialist realist-inspired version and some were restored as modern buildings stripped of details, such was the thinking in those days. Far worse outcomes could have befallen Warsaw if those who advocated building an entirely new modern city had won the day. Atleast today we see before us an amalgam of many different architectural styles and urban design philosophies that manage to survive as a testament to Warsaw's turbulent and very rich history.

Anyone with knowledge and photos that document this period is welcome to contribute. Before and afters are welcome, but it would be great to see photos of actual construction and the methods they used.

Basic Facts
(taken mainly from A. Ciborowski's Warsaw A City Destroyed and Rebuilt):


  • In january 1945, the volume or rubble totalled 720 million cubic feet

  • 98,000 mines and shells were removed from the ruins of the city and 1,000 buildings were cleared of mines by sappers, an additional several hundred thousand have been cleared since

  • War losses amounted to 800,000 people killed and 85 percent of the city destroyed



Assessment of Situation and First Works




Founding, Initial Directives and Organizational Structure of the BOS (Office for the Reconstruction of the Capital)

Every big journey starts with ....first page





Nomination of Jan Zachwatowicz as Director of BOS



Call to Polish Architects



New headquarters established



Initial Staff Roster



Organizational Structure








The first week

 
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12
#2,836 ·
Hotel Europejski revitalization:



thanks demmat
 
#2,837 ·
Infill near Polish Sejm (Parliament):



thanks evertonfans2012
 
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#2,838 ·
Foksal 13 & 15 - structural reinforcement and underground parking continues:







thanks evertonfans2012
 
#2,839 ·
Infill Koszykowa/Piekna:



thanks evertonfans2012
 
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#2,840 ·
Warsaw downtown (Wola) infill:



thanks xvbvcv
 
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#2,841 ·
Prudential Restoration/Revitalization:









thanks kafarek
 
#2,842 ·
Plac Napoleon (Pre War) /Plac Powstancow (Uprising Square) Revitalization:



these planetrees are going to be planted on Swietokrzyska Street (Above):



thanks REDHATT
 
#2,843 ·
Koneser Vodka Distillery Redevelopment:



thanks pafcio













thanks Ring
 
#2,844 ·
Nowogrodska Square infill on Jerozolimskie Allee:



thanks kaspior

 
#2,845 ·
Holy Trinity cupola:

 
#2,847 ·
It does look great, a walked the earlier section completed last year, very impressed. The design and build of the next section is underway. I'm glad that they are continually moving forward.
 
#2,849 ·
or maybe we can add:

1955 - what Nazi Germany gave us while Soviet Russia watched ;)
 
#2,850 ·
20 years of communism gave us reconstructed Old Town (without the Royal Palace for a while), Pkin, MDM, new Muranów as well as numerous other buildings (quite often monumental) and whole neighborhoods. Most of the housing we use today appeared in the next 25 years along with some first international-style skyscrapers.
But of course some parts were developed more than others.
 
#2,851 ·
it's true, but it was still a big price to pay for freedom and independence. imagine how much more dynamic the Polish and Warsaw economy would be now if our "Allies" resisted Stalin and ensured a democratic independent state for Poland and then of course all those billions of the Marshall Plan.

I think the private owners would have rebuilt the old town as it was with reparation money we got; the state would have rebuilt historically significant buildings like the castle; and much of the rest that wasn't totally destroyed like the areas around Plac Uniii Lubelskiej and Zbawiciela would have been nicely restored by the owners. Wola given the lot sizes and private property may have seen a building boom of international style kamienice as opposed to blocks. But developers may have purchased many lots to build larger scale apartment buildings as well, who knows really.

Anyway, I believe Warsaw would have been rebuilt much faster if it were not re-occupied post war. Initially private property rights would have been an impediment, but once everything was coordinated there would have been a lot more capital and a more dynamic private sector to support reconstruction.
 
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#2,852 ·
Agree.
I think Warsaw would be rebuild much faster by private hands. Many main streets like Marszalkowska or Swietokrzyska would be rebuild to their pre-war conditions by private owners. There would not be massive demolition of existing buildings to make way for bigger roads. PKiN would not be built and old street layout would not be chanced.
 
#2,853 ·
^^Making bigger roads for cars was a craze all over the world at the time so I don't really see why it wouldn't be the case with Warsaw, especially since architects and planners behind the rebuilding efforts (often radical modernists) were locals, often active already before the war and not some sort of Russian communists relegated to Poland. If anything you can expect the tram network would be largely dismantled in favor of car-only infrastructure. Also there is no reason to think that this XIX-century buildings that were not considered precious in terms of architecture at that time would've been rebuilt or painstakingly repaired (as it sometimes happen today) when it's much cheaper to demolish everything and build something new from scratch. You don't really see that many reconstructions in capitalist countries from that time.
 
#2,854 ·
There are countless examples of war damaged west-of-the-Iron-Curtain European cities and subsequent botched reconstructions or complete modernist replacements (Rotterdam, Hannover, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Coventry, Dortmund, a very good example of Le Havre, etc.). Even valuable and at time perfectly preserved historical buildings were demolished post-WW2 to make way for modern infrastructure projects or simply bigger modern constructions (Maison du Peuple in Bruxelles, Josephskeller in Friburg, Cassa di risparmio in Venice, The English Quarter and countless other examples in Oslo, Roman-Mayr-Haus in Munich, The Palais Rose in Paris, Rathaus in Essen, Victorian Birmingham, many examples in Strasbourg, Sagerska husen, The Blanche theater, hotels Continental, Anglais, Park and many other examples in Stockholm…). Also, many historical train stations were demolished and replaced with modern buildings (Hamburg-Altona, Westbahnhof, Südbahnhof, Nordbahnhof in Vienna, Euston station in London, Birmingham Snow Hill station, etc.).

Current shape of Warsaw has little to do with Poland being on one or another side of the Iron Curtain- this was simply a universal architectural tendency at the time. Considering the damage Warsaw endured (85% of the city razed to the ground), Warsaw looks fine. The meticulous rebuilding of Warsaw’s Old Town, using many of the original bricks and decorative elements, is one of the best examples of post-WW2 reconstructions in Europe.
Also, since you mention Stalin, I have to say that despite his ideology and crimes, Warsaw has some of the best examples of architecture and urbanism when it comes to his socialist realism (Marszalkowska housing estate, Muranow, Defilad Square) and the town of Nowa Huta is studied Europe-wide.

I find it interesting that although at least half of lost European heritage comes from Western Europe (Eindhoven, Stockholm, Bruxelles, Bristol, Ostend, Milan, Oslo, Frankfurt and majority of West German cities), many posters from the former Eastern block stubbornly blame “the Commies” for modernism. Not sure if it’s pure ideological blindness or absolute ignorance of modern architecture and urbanism history (or both).

That was a world-wide transformation- check what happened with historical architecture or even some modernist/brutalist masterpieces in the USA, Argentina, Australia, Japan etc. (NYC Pennsylvania Station, The Singer Building, Garrick Theater in Chicago, The Orange County Government Center by Paul Rudolf or his Shoreline Apartments, Federal Coffee Palace in Melbourne, Catalano House, Chame-Chame house by Lina Bo Bardi in Brasil, The Wabash Terminal in Pittsburgh, US Post Office in Boston, Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo or his Larkin Administration Building in the USA, Chicago Federal Building etc.).

I’m not sure this has a lot to do with heritage preservation. In my understanding, people are not decrying the loss of historical buildings/streets but they are unhappy with the replacement. Nobody mourns Paris lost to Haussmann’s interventions or even Via della Conciliazione in Rome, although precious heritage was destroyed to make way for it. So I would say that frustration generally derives from some shortcomings of modern architecture (sense of place, scale, street concept, heterogeneity, tradition…) while the positives are taken for granted nowadays. Anyway, these issues are being tackled today by many urbanists and architects.

P.S. Check out these two books by Gavin Stamp: “Lost Victorian Britain: How the Twentieth Century Destroyed the Nineteenth Century's Architectural Masterpieces” and “Britain's Lost Cities”, you’ll feel better about Warsaw then :)
I live in Vienna and I recently read the book “Stadtbildverluste Wien: ein Rückblick auf fünf Jahrzehnte”. I couldn’t believe how much of perfectly well preserved historical architecture was demolished after the WW2, due to different arch. concepts of that time, but I cannot deny that although some of it seems senseless nowadays, many of the interventions, particularly due to infrastructure works, changed Vienna for the good.
 
#2,855 · (Edited)
There are countless examples of war damaged west-of-the-Iron-Curtain European cities and subsequent botched reconstructions or complete modernist replacements (Rotterdam, Hannover, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Coventry, Dortmund, a very good example of Le Havre, etc.). Even valuable and at time perfectly preserved historical buildings were demolished post-WW2 to make way for modern infrastructure projects or simply bigger modern constructions (Maison du Peuple in Bruxelles, Josephskeller in Friburg, Cassa di risparmio in Venice, The English Quarter and countless other examples in Oslo, Roman-Mayr-Haus in Munich, The Palais Rose in Paris, Rathaus in Essen, Victorian Birmingham, many examples in Strasbourg, Sagerska husen, The Blanche theater, hotels Continental, Anglais, Park and many other examples in Stockholm…). Also, many historical train stations were demolished and replaced with modern buildings (Hamburg-Altona, Westbahnhof, Südbahnhof, Nordbahnhof in Vienna, Euston station in London, Birmingham Snow Hill station, etc.).

Current shape of Warsaw has little to do with Poland being on one or another side of the Iron Curtain- this was simply a universal architectural tendency at the time. Considering the damage Warsaw endured (85% of the city razed to the ground), Warsaw looks fine. The meticulous rebuilding of WarsawÂ’s Old Town, using many of the original bricks and decorative elements, is one of the best examples of post-WW2 reconstructions in Europe.
Also, since you mention Stalin, I have to say that despite his ideology and crimes, Warsaw has some of the best examples of architecture and urbanism when it comes to his socialist realism (Marszalkowska housing estate, Muranow, Defilad Square) and the town of Nowa Huta is studied Europe-wide.

I find it interesting that although at least half of lost European heritage comes from Western Europe (Eindhoven, Stockholm, Bruxelles, Bristol, Ostend, Milan, Oslo, Frankfurt and majority of West German cities), many posters from the former Eastern block stubbornly blame “the Commies” for modernism. Not sure if it’s pure ideological blindness or absolute ignorance of modern architecture and urbanism history (or both).

That was a world-wide transformation- check what happened with historical architecture or even some modernist/brutalist masterpieces in the USA, Argentina, Australia, Japan etc. (NYC Pennsylvania Station, The Singer Building, Garrick Theater in Chicago, The Orange County Government Center by Paul Rudolf or his Shoreline Apartments, Federal Coffee Palace in Melbourne, Catalano House, Chame-Chame house by Lina Bo Bardi in Brasil, The Wabash Terminal in Pittsburgh, US Post Office in Boston, WrightÂ’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo or his Larkin Administration Building in the USA, Chicago Federal Building etc.).

IÂ’m not sure this has a lot to do with heritage preservation. In my understanding, people are not decrying the loss of historical buildings/streets but they are unhappy with the replacement. Nobody mourns Paris lost to HaussmannÂ’s interventions or even Via della Conciliazione in Rome, although precious heritage was destroyed to make way for it. So I would say that frustration generally derives from some shortcomings of modern architecture (sense of place, scale, street concept, heterogeneity, traditionÂ…) while the positives are taken for granted nowadays. Anyway, these issues are being tackled today by many urbanists and architects.

P.S. Check out these two books by Gavin Stamp: “Lost Victorian Britain: How the Twentieth Century Destroyed the Nineteenth Century's Architectural Masterpieces” and “Britain's Lost Cities”, you’ll feel better about Warsaw then :)
I live in Vienna and I recently read the book “Stadtbildverluste Wien: ein Rückblick auf fünf Jahrzehnte”. I couldn’t believe how much of perfectly well preserved historical architecture was demolished after the WW2, due to different arch. concepts of that time, but I cannot deny that although some of it seems senseless nowadays, many of the interventions, particularly due to infrastructure works, changed Vienna for the good.
I agree what you said is true to a significant extent but not completely so. If you were to consult local literature and newsreels at the time of reconstruction, you would discover official propaganda markedly voicing support in favor of demolitions and building a city to resemble the spirit of so called new reality of socialism. One notable example of this is a giant square in the very center of the capital that was built as parade ground for the masses and military to show support for the new gov't. Poland was also forced by Moscow not to accept the western loans for reconstruction such as the ones included in the Marshall's plan. Had it been otherwise It would have enabled the reconstruction of many more historic buildings with ornaments that were very expensive to rebuild. Moreover private land was nationalized and owners were not given a say in how the area was to be rebuilt, some of the legal consequences of this drag on until today.
 
#2,856 ·
I agree with you both that the shortcomings of modernism and the architects and planners influenced by it and the Athens Charter (CIAM) would have had their effect on Warsaw either way.

There was a long standing plan to thin out some of the built form to allow in light and to build a road through the old town whose form caused road blocks and there were also plans to extend Marszalkowska and certainly Warsaw would have seen maybe even more road construction. But Warsaw would have continued with its huge subway construction plan started by mayor Stefan Starzynski, which was stopped by commies for lack of resources and because Moscow wanted Warsaw to become more of a regional or provincial city so its growth was curbed.

But Warsaw was unique and even those authors of its reconstruction (Old Town) Jan Zachwatowicz and Piotr Bieganski defied the Venice Charter that forbad historic reconstruction (they were signatories of it) and rebuilt the Old and New Towns from the ruins. These individuals may have had influence over the reconstruction of other parts of Warsaw as well.

Who knows what really would have happened, but certainly modernism and functionalism, the automobile but also the subway would have influenced its reconstruction as well as massive infusions of capital which would have seen Warsaw rebuilt much faster. The Zelazna Brama project may never have been built because of the difficulty in assembling property rights, but modernism would have certainly defined this less historic district of Warsaw.

The Palace of Culture would never have been built with its huge parade grounds that has left a hole in the centre of Warsaw to this day. Much of the city that existed here post war was still somewhat intact and probably with some restoration and probably some stripping of historic detail would have been quickly re-inhabited. In fact, many of these buildings on the parade ground were renovated post war to provide much needed housing but then demolished to make way for "Stalin's Gift".
 
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#2,857 ·
Museum of Warsaw was officially opened



Renovation work on the Museum of Warsaw, which began in 2014, has been completed.

The museum was reopen on the 26th May. The OdNowa project entailed the modernisation, maintenance and digitalisation of the museum as well as eleven historic tenement buildings (excluding cellars that had been renovated in previous years) that make up part of the museum as well as the ‘Things of Warsaw’ exhibition.

The work was the first major renovation in Warsaw’s Old Town since its post-war redevelopment with façades restored in accordance with the plans set out in the 1950s by the office of historic preservation. The total cost of the project was in excess of PLN 64 mln, PLN 46 mln of which was financed by the city and over PLN 18 mln came from the Norwegian EEA Funds. To celebrate the reopening over the opening weekend images are to be projected onto the tenement buildings and the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra will play in the market square.

http://english.eurobuildcee.com/?page=news&id=21151











 
#2,858 ·
it looks wonderful, but one thing that really annoys me with all such projects is how poorly integrated the safety components (speakers, signs) and HVAC is with the overall design. I see above some examples where it really should have been better designed, as it detracts from the overall beauty. Am I being too picky?
 
#2,860 ·
I'm really starting to like this addition to a historical building:



creates a nice uniform streetface



thanks Salitz
 
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