A few years ago, a large-city townhouse at 5 Szpitalna Street in Warsaw, built in the second half of the 19th century, regained its former charm with a comprehensive renovation of its façade. The work, carried out on the basis of surviving photographs and documentation, was completed in 2019. Thanks to the great commitment of the housing community and a grant from the city, the historic tenement has regained its lost decorations and balconies and has once again become an ornament of the neighbourhood.
The building, originally a three-storey structure, was built between 1879 and 1880 for the Warsaw entrepreneur Marcin Okoń. In 1910, the building was added two storeys, and its elevations on the side of Szpitalna and Przeskok Streets were decorated with rich, eclectic architectural detail. The building survived the Second World War without major damage, but in the 1970s most of the façade decoration and balconies were removed, explaining this by its poor technical condition. Only the rustication of the ground floor, the gate decoration and some simplified details on the façade were left.
A fragment of the Szpitalna Street development in September 1944. Source: Museum of Warsaw, Author: Sylwester Braun “Kris”
In 2017, the housing community decided to restore the façade to its original appearance. Based on archival photographs, including photographs from the Warsaw Uprising by Sylwester Braun “Kris” and documentation from 1960, the reconstruction began. The renovation work was started thanks to a grant from the city of over PLN 495,000, which made it possible to reconstruct the façade from the side of Przeskok Street. After a year’s hiatus, work continued, and in 2019 the restoration of the façade on the Szpitalna Street side was completed.
The tenement at 5 Szpitalna Street before and after the reconstruction of the façade decoration. Photo by Martuusia2, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The reconstruction included rebuilding the balconies with cast iron balustrades, restoring the cornices, window bands, pilaster heads, tympanums and rustication. The smooth surfaces were covered with light beige ceramic cladding, restoring the building to its original character. A major challenge was the restoration of the crowning cornice, the profile of which was made of plaster and mounted on a special metal structure.
A section of the façade in 2014 and 2024. Photo: Google Maps and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The completed reconstruction of the décor of the tenement at 5 Szpitalna Street is an example of care and attention to detail, which has allowed the tenement to restore its metropolitan splendour. The building once again stands out in the cityscape, while complementing the rich décor of the interior, staircase and gate passage. The cost of the façade renovation amounted to approximately PLN 1.2 million, of which the City of Warsaw’s subsidy covered nearly 42% of the total investment.
View of the tenement in 2015 and today. Photo May/photopolska.eu, Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 and whiteMAD/Mateusz Markowski
The complete reconstruction of damaged architectural decoration is rare. It is often difficult to restore a building to its original appearance due to the limited availability of archival materials that could serve as a basis for reconstruction and the high cost of such projects. In this case, however, the work was completed with exceptionally good results, and Warsaw has regained another beautiful building.
Source: um.warszawa.pl, fundacja-hereditas.pl
Read also: Renovation | Tenement | City | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland
