The tenement house at 10 Mała Street in Warsaw’s Praga district has had some of the decorative elements on its façade restored, which had been removed from the listed building in the 1960s. Footage from Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s 1956 film *Cień* (The Shadow) helped in their reconstruction. The work was supervised by the Office of the Capital City’s Conservator of Monuments as part of a wider regeneration project for this part of Praga.
Mała 10 after a thorough renovation
This small, two-storey building was constructed at the turn of the 1880s and 1890s and fortunately survived the Second World War. Unfortunately, over the years its condition deteriorated, and some of the details and ornamentation were lost during post-war renovations. The most significant changes occurred during the renovation carried out between 1962 and 1964. At that time, the decorations on the second and third storeys of the front façade were removed. The recently completed works have restored the tenement house to its former aesthetic. The project cost over 2.6 million zlotys.
The façade as seen in a 1956 film
In the case of Mała 10, the problem was a lack of archival documents or photographs showing the building in its original form. Conservationists therefore began searching for other sources and found what they were looking for in the 1956 film *Cień* (*The Shadow*), directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz. The first part of the film features Konopacka and Stalowa Streets, followed by Mała Street. At the 11th and 22nd minutes of the film, the tenement house at number 10 can be seen with its original façade intact. It was this discovery that formed the basis for developing the concept for the restoration of the historic building.
Mała 10 and further discoveries
The film provided information on the form of the lost decorations, but important data was also yielded by investigations of the building itself. After removing the secondary plaster from the façade, the outlines and dimensions of elements that had been covered up several decades ago were revealed. Beneath the crowning cornice, fragments of older finishing layers had been preserved, from which it was possible to determine the original colour scheme and the appearance of the original plasterwork. On this basis, the contractor recreated the façade’s historic surface. The original colour of the balcony’s metal balustrade was also restored.
Olive-coloured door and balustrade
The renovation also covered part of the tenement’s interiors. As part of this, the stairwell was refurbished, the cellars were tidied up and the building services were modernised. The original door joinery was conserved, whilst the secondary entrance doors to the flats were replaced with new ones, modelled on the historic ones. Their olive colour was not chosen at random – the shade was determined on the basis of research. The wooden staircase balustrade has also been restored to its original colour scheme. In addition, the secondary windows and window sills in the building were replaced, and the modernisation also covered the attic, the roof and the chimneys.
Praga is restoring its old tenement blocks
Mała 10 is part of a wider regeneration programme for Warsaw’s Praga district. The Municipal Regeneration Programme runs until 2030, with a budget of nearly 3 billion zlotys. In Praga-North, Praga-South and Targówek, dozens of old buildings are being renovated, including tenement blocks that had previously been taken out of use.
However, the work on Mała 10 did not end with the renovation of the façade. The city is conducting a further tender procedure concerning the gateway. The scope of the contract includes, amongst other things, the reconstruction of the polychrome decoration on the stairwell ceilings.
Source:Warsaw City Hall,warszawa1939.pl
See also:Façade|Tenement block|Historic building|City|Warsaw|Architecture in Poland
