The building of Teodosia Majewska’s baths, also known as the Bath House, is a classicist building located at 2/4 Bednarska Street, on the corner with Dobra Street in Warsaw. It is currently the seat of the Faculty of Journalism, Information and Bibliology at the University of Warsaw and the Academic Campus Radio.
The baths building was designed by Alfons Kropiwnicki and built between 1832 and 1835 on the initiative of the family of Stanisław Majewski. The man was an entrepreneur and inventor of the so-called handelki – wine-colonial shops with a small restaurant at the back. The bathhouse offered steam baths for a dozen or so people and individual baths in one-person steam rooms. The water was drawn from the Vistula River and purified in special filters. A variety of baths were available, such as herbal, iron and sulphur baths. The building also housed an eatery that served a variety of dishes. Customers were treated to dishes such as skewered hare with lettuce, veal, capon bigos, hot peccary with horseradish, Wiener-style schnitzel, tripe and fish.
The building of Teodosia Majewska’s baths in the early 20th century. Source: Mazovian Digital Library
The building of baths was erected for Teodosia Majewska in the late classical style, referring to the edifice of the Water Chamber located in the Praga district. It is a single-storey building covered by a gable roof with three two-storey risalits, the central one of which has the form of a six-column entrance portico. The portico is supported by a richly carved pediment with a bas-relief “Kidnapping of Proserpine by Poseidon” by Pavel Malinsky. To the north of the façade is a single-storey building added after the war, which is connected to the entrance area by a short passage.
During the Second World War the building was partially destroyed, mainly in the front part. After the war, the façade was restored and a new building was erected behind it. Between 1954 and 1973, the building housed various schools, including the Stanisław Staszic Primary School No. 41. During the communist period, the building served as the PZPR Ideological Education Centre, and in 1965 it was entered in the register of monuments. From 1989 to 2013, the building housed the 1st Jam Saheb Digvijay Sinhji Community Secondary School. It was the first independent high school in Poland, founded by Krystyna Starczewska, who was also its first principal. The school was known for its partnership between students, teachers and parents and for its democratic system of governance, which included a school Diet and School Court.
Since 2005, the building has also been the home of Academic Campus Radio. In the first half of 2015, the building was renovated and transformed into the headquarters of the Institute of Journalism at the University of Warsaw. Since September 2016, following the transformation of the Journalism Institute, the building has become the seat of the Faculty of Journalism, Information and Bibliology at the University of Warsaw. In 2019, the University of Warsaw announced a competition for a new teaching building to be connected to the Teodosia Majewska Baths building.
There are plans to extend the northern part of the site with two new edifices, which are to be reminiscent of classicist architecture. The new buildings are to house radio and television studios, the editorial offices of Academic Campus Radio, halls, lecture theatres, computer labs and academic offices. A two-storey underground car park is also planned.
Source: iwaw.pl
Read also: Architecture in Poland | Monument | City | History | Warsaw
