The complex of two residential buildings, located at 32 Rozbrat Street and 34/36 Rozbrat Street in Warsaw, is the quintessence of the chic and elegance of pre-war capital and classic architecture. The twin tenements were built in 1928-31 to a design by Feliks Michalski, an architect highly regarded in the interwar period. They have recently undergone renovation, during which the characteristic helmets were returned to their roofs.
The buildings are an important, mostly preserved example of luxurious residential buildings in Powiśle. The majestic townhouses were built for the Housing Cooperative of Sugar Industry Workers on opposite sides of Śniegockiej Street, and have remained in the same hands to the present day. The facades of both buildings, whose characteristic corner towers embrace the street outlet symmetrically, were designed in the neo-classical style. They are decorated with triangular gable tympanums, reliefs with masks and flower motifs, stone vases, balconies and fluted pilasters with richly decorated capitals. In both buildings, in spite of severe damage during the Second World War, many of the old decorative elements have been preserved, such as doors, balustrades, tiles, stairs or wrought iron fences and fountains in the courtyards.
The tenement house at the corner of Rozbrat and Śniegocka Streets in 1939. Source: State Archive in Warsaw
During the Warsaw Uprising in September 1944, as a result of massive German air raids on Powiśle, the buildings were severely damaged. In the Rozbrat 34/36 building, the middle part of the front wing from Rozbrat Street was completely demolished. The southern corner of the Rozbrat 32 building was also partly demolished. After the war the tenements were rebuilt in a simplified form – the cupolas crowning the two corner towers were not reconstructed, and the rebuilt front of the Rozbrat 34/36 building was deprived of balconies and the triangular tympanum on the central axis, the inclination of the roof of the Rozbrat 32 building was changed to a smaller one and the original ceramic tile was replaced with galvanised sheeting. This disturbed the proportions and symmetry of the original layout of the townhouses. The damaged, bullet-riddled and mostly bare-brick facades did not receive their first post-war renovation until 1995.
The tenement house at the corner of Rozbrat and Śniegocka streets in 1939 and today. Source: National Archive in Warsaw and Bogdan JS/photopolska.eu, Licence: CC-BY 4.0
Tenements from Rozbrat Street in the post-war years and before the reconstruction of the helmets. Source: Google Maps and National Archives in Warsaw
The twin tenements before and after the reconstruction of the helmets. Source: Google Maps and ABC Warsaw
The aim of the investment carried out in the second half of last year was to raise the roof of the Rozbrat 32 building and adjust its geometry to the neighbouring Rozbrat 34/36 building, to cover it with ceramic tiles and to reconstruct the corner domes in both buildings, which restored the tenements to their pre-World War II appearance.
The renovation, carried out by the residents’ cooperative, was subsidised by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The subsidy amounted to PLN 257,000. The total value of the renovation is PLN 154,000.
Source: rozbrat.com.pl, rekonstrukcjeiodbudowy.pl
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Monument | History | Metamorphosis | Warsaw
